Jobless rates increase in White and Van Buren counties

Tennessee is currently sitting at 3.5% seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, yet White County is a bit higher at 4.9% for the month of June. This is still within the generally accepted healthy range of unemployment, but it is yet another month where White and surrounding counties have seen increases.

White County has gone up 0.8% since May, when the rate was at 4.1%. May was also an increase over April’s 3.6%. The number of unemployed persons in the county has risen from 447 in May to 539 in June. June 2024 was also slightly higher at 4.7%.

Surrounding counties, such as Van Buren, DeKalb, and Cumberland have also gone up in their rate the past month. Van Buren rose from 3.3% to 4.1%, DeKalb went from 3.7% to 4.8%, and Cumberland jumped from 4.1% to 5%. Even Putnam County has risen from 3.4% to 4.4%.

The counties with the lowest unemployment include Sevier (3.2%), Cheatham (3.2%), Williamson (3.3%), and Wilson (3.3%). The highest rates in the state are as high as 6.2% with Perry County, or Johnson and Meigs County at 5.9%.

In the workforce for Tennessee, total nonfarm employment increased by 6,100 the past month. The biggest gains were in Professional and Business Services, Education, and Trade. Over the past year, Government and Leisure have seen the highest gains. The only categories of employment that saw overall decay in employment were Mining, Logging, and Construction as well as Information. The decreases are small, however, only dropping 0.2% and 0.7% respectively.

Tennessee has also seen an increase in average weekly earnings and hours, as well as hourly earnings, in the past year. The only major negative increase for the state this month is the slight rise in unemployment across many counties, but this was reflected last summer as well.

The Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development posts all of these results online for public viewing at tn.gov/workforce, under the Labor Force Estimates tab.