County unemployment rates for December 2012, released Thursday, show the rate decreased in two counties and increased in 93 primarily due to normal seasonal employment declines. County unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted and reflect seasonal employment changes from month to month.
Specific county information is available at http://www.tn.gov/labor-wfd/labor_figures/LaborDec12.pdf.
Tennessee’s unemployment rate for December remained constant from the November revised rate of 7.6 percent. The national unemployment rate for December 2012 was 7.8 percent, also unchanged from the previous month.
The state unemployment rate is 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.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 5.7 percent, up from 5.2 percent in November. Davidson County was 6.2 percent, up from 5.7 percent. Hamilton County was 7.2 percent, up from 6.4 percent, and Shelby County was 8.7 percent, up from 7.8 percent in November.