County unemployment rates for December 2014, released Thursday, show the rate decreased in 20 counties, increased in 64 counties, and remained the same in 11 counties.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate in December at 5.0 percent, down from 5.1 percent in November. Davidson County was 5.1 percent in December, down from 5.2 the previous month. The Hamilton County December rate was 6.4 percent, unchanged from November. Shelby County was 8.1 percent in December, also unchanged from the previous month. Tennessee’s preliminary unemployment rate for December was 6.6 percent, two-tenths of one percentage point lower than the November revised rate of 6.8 percent. The U.S. preliminary rate for December was 5.6 percent, also falling two-tenths of one percentage point from the prior month.
The state and national unemployment rates are seasonally adjusted while the county unemployment rates are not. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that eliminates the influences of weather, holidays, the opening and closing of schools, and other recurring seasonal events from economic time series.
Specific county information for December is available at http://www.tn.gov/labor-wfd/labor_figures/LaborDEC2014.pdf.