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NASHVILLE (May 28) — Statistics released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development show a staggering increase in unemployment for each of Tennessee’s 95 counties in April as many businesses closed to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
The unprecedented and historic spike in unemployment affected some counties more drastically than others, but no area of Tennessee escaped the pandemic’s effect on the state’s workforce.
Statewide, unemployment reached a historic high in April. The seasonally adjusted rate of 14.7 percent surpassed the previous all-time high figure of 12.9 percent in January 1983.
Fayette County had Tennessee’s lowest unemployment rate in April. At 9.4 percent, the county’s rate increased by 6.1 percentage points when compared to its revised March rate of 3.3 percent.
Weakley County had the second-lowest unemployment rate for the month at 9.6 percent, followed by Hardeman County at 9.7 percent.
Fayette, Weakley and Hardeman were the only counties in the state with unemployment rates below 10 percent in April.
Sevier County recorded Tennessee’s highest unemployment rate for the month. The county’s new jobless figure of 29.5 percent represents a spike of 26 percentage points when compared to its revised March rate of 3.5 percent.
When comparing Tennessee’s three largest cities, Nashville had the highest unemployment rate in April. The city’s rate of 15.9 percent is a 13.5 percentage point increase over its revised March rate of 2.4 percent. Memphis recorded a rate of 14.3 percent, a spike of 10.1 percentage points from the previous month, and Knoxville’s April rate of 14.7 percent is an 11.8 percentage point jump.
At 9.6 percent, Weakley County’s unemployment rate during April represents a 3.2 percent increase from the previous month’s rate of 6.4 percent. It was 5.1 percent lower than the national and state rates, which both recorded 14.7 percent unemployment. Out of a total countywide labor force of 14,661 workers, 13,255 Weakley County citizens were employed and 1,406 were unemployed.