NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Officials said that unemployment rates dropped across Tennessee during November.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said that unemployment rates in 41 counties were less than 5% and that Williamson County saw the lowest unemployment rate at 3.3%. In October, officials said the county had an unemployment rate of 4.6%.
Lake County in West Tennessee saw the highest jobless rate at 8.1% in November. However, the rate dropped 2% compared to the month before, officials said.
Officials said that Knoxville had an unemployment rate of 4.3%, which dropped 1.7% compared to October. Across Knox County, officials aid that the unemployment rate was 4.1%
The county with the highest unemployment rate in the East Tennessee metropolitan area was Campbell County with 5.5%.
Officials said that there are more than 230,000 open positions on the state's workforce development website, Jobs4TN. The department also launched a website to help people research different programs — the Tennessee Virtual American Job Center.
According to a release from the labor department, Tennessee had a labor force of 3,460,413 people in November, which 182,340 of those unemployed searching for work. Overall, the unemployment rate was 5.3% in the state.
Officials said that 6.7% of the labor force was still searching for work in the U.S. during November. A new federal COVID-19 relief package is expected to include money to help people searching for work, including $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits.
