County unemployment 5.1 percent for April

Bedford County's unemployment rate for April was 5.1 percent, down 0.7 percent from March, but up 1.4 percent compared to last year, according to figures released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The county had a workforce of 22,920 with 21,740 people employed and a total of 1,170 out of work. But the rate is still higher than this time last year, when it was at 3.7 percent.

Tennessee's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was at 5.4 percent, 0.1 percent lower than the March revised rate of 5.5 percent. The United States unemployment rate for the month of April was 5.0 percent.

County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for April show that 93 counties decreased. The rate increased in one county and remained the same in one county.

Williamson County registered the state's lowest county unemployment rate at 3.4 percent, down 0.5 from the March rate.

Perry County had the state's highest rate at 12.3 percent, the same as the March rate, followed by Lauderdale County at 9.2 percent, down from 9.6 percent in March.

Knox County had the state's lowest major metropolitan rate at 3.8 percent, down 0.5 from the March rate of 4.3 percent. Davidson County was 4.1 percent, down from 4.7 in March. Hamilton County was at 4.4 percent down 0.3 percent from March, and Shelby County was 5.5 percent, down from the March rate of 6.2.