Jobless rate up slightly

Cannon County's unemployment rate climbed slightly during December to 5.6 percent but remained under the state's non-adjusted average of 6.6 percent.

The Cannon County figure was the same as the national average of 5.6 for December. November's rate was 5.5 percent in Cannon.

In surrounding counties, Rutherford recorded 4.7 percent as did Wilson. Warren County averaged 6.5 percent and Coffee County 5.6 percent. DeKalb was 6.1 percent, while nearby Van Buren County was 9.5 percent.

A breakdown of state figures show that only four counties were less than 5.0 percent. A total of 87 counties (including Cannon) scored 5.0 or greater, but less than 10 percent. Only four counties rated 10 percent or greater.

Knox County had the state's lowest major metropolitan rate in December at 5.0 percent, down from 5.1 percent in November. Davidson County was 5.1 percent in December, down from 5.2 the previous month. The Hamilton County December rate was 6.4 percent, unchanged from November. Shelby County was 8.1 percent in December, also unchanged from the previous month.

Tennessee's preliminary unemployment rate for December was 6.6 percent, two-tenths of one percentage point lower than the November revised rate of 6.8 percent. The U.S. preliminary rate for December was 5.6 percent, also falling 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.