Perry County Has State’s Best Improvement in Unemployment Figures

For the first time in 18 months, Perry County does not have the state’s worst jobless rate.

19.3% of the county’s workforce were looking for jobs in July. That’s a nearly 3% improvement over the county’s June figure, and the best rate of improvement in the state. Earlier this year, several stimulus-funded projects were targeted to Perry County in hopes of employing more people there.

Scott County now has Tennessee’s highest unemployment rate of 19.6% .

78 of the state’s 95 counties saw improvement, generally by a fraction of a point.

The Metropolitan area made up of Murfreesboro, Nashville and their ring counties have a combined unemployment rate of 9.6%. That’s on par with the state’s other cities and their suburbs. Tennessee’s overall jobless rate is 10.7%. The national average is 9.4%.