County unemployment rate 50 percent higher

Bedford County's unemployment rate is up 50 percent over May of last year, according to preliminary figures released Thursday by the state's department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The jobless rate for the county was at 6.1 percent for May 2008, 2.1 points higher than last year's rate of 4 percent, a 50 percent increase.

This year, the county's May labor force was tallied at 23,000, with 1,400 unemployed. Last year, 910 out of 22,670 workers were unemployed.

Revised unemployment numbers for April 2008 showed a rate of 5.1 percent, a hike of a full percentage point from March of this year.

Tennessee's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May 2008 was released last week at 6.4 percent, 1 percentage point higher than the April revised rate of 5.4 percent.

The national unemployment rate for May was 5.5 percent.

"The Tennessee unemployment picture is parallel to what's happening across the nation by increasing significantly from April," said Commissioner James Neeley.

"I don't believe this is cause for concern; the monthly data is a preliminary estimate of what is happening in the labor market," he said. "Similar to the national data, the household survey has indicated the large increase while other major inputs, like the business survey and unemployment insurance claims did not change as significantly."

County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for May 2008 show that 94 counties increased. Trousdale County had the only decrease in unemployment, down 0.1 percentage point to 7.6 percent.

Williamson County registered the state's lowest county unemployment rate at 4.2 percent, up 0.8 from the April rate of 3.4 percent. Perry County had the state's highest at 13.1 percent, up 0.8 from the April rate of 12.3 percent, followed by Lauderdale County at 10.8 percent, up from 9.2 percent in April.

Knox County had the state's lowest major metropolitan rate at 4.6 percent, up 0.8 from the April rate of 3.8 percent. Davidson County was 5.0 percent, up from 4.1 in April. Hamilton County was at 5.0 percent, up 0.7 from the April rate of 4.3 percent, and Shelby County was 6.3 percent, up from the April rate of 5.5.

Statewide April to May gains occurred in leisure and hospitality employment, increasing by 3,600; jobs in construction, natural resources and mining increased 1,900; and administrative, support, and waste services increased 1,900. Month-to-month declines included professional, scientific and technical services, down 2,700. State government educational services lost 1,700 jobs, and durable goods manufacturing was down 1,300 jobs.

From May 2007, educational and health services gained 7,900 jobs. Local government educational services employment increased by 1,900; and accommodation and food service jobs were up 1,600.

Manufacturing jobs were down from a year ago with employment decreasing by 8,500; financial activities employment lost 2,400 jobs and administrative, support and waste services employment was down 2,100 jobs.