Tennessee county unemployment rates for April 2015, released Thursday, show the rates decreased in 94 counties and increased in one county. Specific county information for April is available at http://www.tn.gov/labor-wfd/labor_figures/LaborAPR2015.pdf.
Davidson County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate in April at 4.1 percent, down from 4.4 percent in March.
Knox County was 4.3 percent in April, down from 4.6 the previous month. The Hamilton County April rate was 5.0 percent, down from 5.4 in March. Shelby County was 6.2 percent in April, down from 6.7 percent the previous month.
Tennessee’s preliminary unemployment rate for April was 6.0 percent, three-tenths of one percentage point lower than the March revised rate of 6.3 percent. The U.S. preliminary rate for April was 5.4 percent, one-tenth of one percentage point lower than 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.