NASHVILLE – As a further indication the state of Tennessee’s economic turnaround continues, unemployment rates for February 2021 dropped in nearly every county, according to new data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Ninety counties experienced lower unemployment during the month. Four counties recorded an increase in unemployment, while Smith County’s February rate remained unchanged from the previous month.

Unemployment rates are less than 5% in 39 of the state’s 95 counties and under 10% in the remaining 56 counties.

Williamson County continued to have the state’s lowest jobless rate in February at 3.1%, down 0.1 of a percentage point from January.

Moore County recorded the second-lowest rate for the month at 3.4%, a 0.4 of a percentage point drop, followed by Wilson County’s rate of 3.7%, which was down 0.3 of a percentage point.

At 8.6%, Lake County had Tennessee’s highest unemployment rate in February, which was a 0.3 of a percentage point increase from January.

While Cocke County recorded the second-highest rate of the month at 7.8%, that was a 0.7 of a percentage point drop from the previous month. Perry County’s rate of 7.5% was also down month-to-month by 0.5 of a percentage point.

A complete analysis of Tennessee’s February 2021 county unemployment data is available here.

Statewide, unemployment dropped to 4.9% in February, down 0.2 of a percentage point from the previous month.

Unemployment also decreased across the United States during the month. The national February rate was 6.2%, a drop of 0.1 of a percentage point.

There are currently more than 215,000 job openings posted on Jobs4TN.gov. Tennesseans looking for work can find programs to help remove barriers to employment by visiting the virtual American Job Center at www.TNVirtualAJC.com

The Department will release the March 2021 statewide unemployment rate Thursday, April 15, 2021, at 1:30 p.m. CT.