Cocke County jobless rate falls for second straight month

Cocke County saw a decline in its jobless rate for the second consecutive month according to data released Thursday by the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development (TDLWD).

Unemployment for August dropped to 4.1% from 4.3% in July for Cocke County. The July rate represented a decline in county joblessness from 4.5% in June.

Cocke County was among 47 counties statewide that saw its jobless rate improve. All but three counties in the state came in under 5% unemployment. Twenty-eight counties saw an increase in the jobless rate. Twenty counties were unchanged from July.

The highest jobless rate was recorded by Houston County with a rate of 5.7%.

Sevier County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state for August at 2.5%. However, that also represented a slight increase over July’s adjusted rate of 2.4%, making for a bit of an anomaly as one of the 28 counties to see its rate increase yet recording the state’s lowest rate. Sevier County also recorded the state’s lowest unemployment in July, an indication of the continued robust employment picture in the tourist-heavy county.

In other neighboring counties, Greene County saw a nearly 15% drop in its unemployment rate for August, as it rebounded from 5.1% in July to only 4.3% for August.

Jefferson County saw a slight increase in its jobless rate for August at 3.7%, compared to 3.6% in July.

Hamblen County’s August rate fell to 3.5%. Its rate stood at 3.6% in July.

The TDLWD report indicates that statewide, seasonally adjusted unemployment in Tennessee was 3.1% in August, breaking a streak of three consecutive months below 3%. The national seasonally adjusted rate stands at 4.3%. Both state and national rates are adjusted for seasonal impact, while county rates are not.