Lewis County is fourth in state's highest unemployment rates
January 6, 2022
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce released an updated unemployment rate for the month of November on December 22, 2021. In that release Lewis County came in fourth for the state's highest rate of unemployment with 4.7 percent our workforce unemployed which is a .3 percent increase from the month of October's 4.4 percent.
The department reported that Lewis County has a labor force of 5,439 with 5,185 of those employed in the month of November. A county's labor force is defined as those who are eligible to work, above the age of 16 whether they are a civilian or armed forces. This made the Labor Force Participation Rate of Lewis County 55 percent while the state's participation rate was 59.7 percent and the national rate was 61.8 percent.
Perry County had the highest rate of unemployment at 5.1 percent, Maury County came in second with 4.7 percent and in third was Cocke County with 4.7 percent. Lewis County fell in fourth because there is a lower overall number of unemployed people compared to Maury County, which had 2440 people unemployed, and Cocke County, which had 637 unemployed people. Lewis County had 254 unemployed people.
Who is Lewis County's labor force?
The latest data that breaks down who Lewis County's workforce actually is, was from October of 2021 did not include those in the armed forces. The majority by 250 people were women between the ages of 18 and 64. There were reportedly 401 people in the labor force with a disability and 4,607 without. Most had the education level of a high school diploma while the second most prominent level of education was some college or Associate's Degree. Only 419 had less than a high school education and 582 people completed their Bachelor's Degree or higher out of the 5,008 reported civilian labor force. All of Lewis County's reported civilian labor force were English speakers only.
A study from April 2021 showed that the majority of Lewis County's labor force, 600 people, worked in Manufacturing, 523 people worked in Retail Trade, 430 people worked in Health Care and Social Assistance, 344 worked in Educational Services, 222 worked in Public Administration and 104 worked in Construction.
Between 51-61 people worked in the Transportation and Warehousing, Finance and Insurance, Real Estate and Rental and Leasing, and Other Services (except Public Administration) industries. Between 26 to 47 people worked in the Management of Companies and Enterprises; Information; Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting industries; and Accomodation and Food Services industries. Only seven people worked in the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation industry.
In another data collection for the week ending on Saturday, December 11, 2021, there were 34 continued unemployment claims. That number dropped significantly from the previous week where there were 74 continued claims. This study showed that 20 out of the 34 continued claims were male while 14 were female. One was an American Indian/Alaskan Native, two were African American, three were Hispanic and the remaining 28 were white. The highest number of continued claims were between 25 and 34 years of age.
Reader Comments(0)