County unemployment rates for February 2015, released Thursday, show the rates decreased in 95 counties.
Davidson County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate in February at 4.8 percent, down from 5.4 percent in January. Knox County was 5.1 percent in February, down from 5.7 the previous month. The Hamilton County February rate was 5.9 percent, down from 6.6 in January. Shelby County was 7.2 percent in February, down from 8.1 percent the previous month. Tennessee’s preliminary unemployment rate for February was 6.6 percent, one-tenth of one percentage point lower than the January revised rate of 6.7 percent. The U.S. preliminary rate for February was 5.5 percent, down two-tenths of one percentage point from 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.
Specific county information for February is available by clicking here.