Scott County’s unemployment rate is back among the state’s 10 highest, although it remains at an historically low level.
According to numbers released Thursday by the TN Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development, Scott County’s unemployment rate for the month of June was 5.0%, up 1.2 percentage points from May’s rate of 3.8%.
Unemployment rates typically go up across Tennessee at the start of summer, as new workers enter the work force and seasonal employment through — primarily through schools — temporarily halts. Scott County’s unemployment rate for June was only a tenth of a point higher than it was a year ago, in June 2025, when it checked in at 4.9%.
Nevertheless, it was high enough to land among the state’s 10 highest unemployment rates for the month — though just barely.
Scott County’s unemployment rate was tied with Greene County for the state’s ninth-highest.
The state’s highest unemployment rate in June was found in Perry County, at 6.0%, followed by Hancock County at 5.7% and Pickett County at 5.6%. Following was Lake County at 5.4%, Meigs and Hardeman counties at 5.2%, and Shelby and Decatur counties at 5.1%.
The state’s lowest unemployment rate in June was a tie between Cheatham and Sevier counties, at 3.0%. Wilson County slipped into a tie for third, at 3.1%, along with Williamson, Sumner, Dickson, and Rutherford counties. Rounding out the 10 lowest unemployment rates in June were Davidson, Robertson, and Macon counties, at 3.2%.
Statewide, 94 of 95 counties experienced increased unemployment rates in June. The only exception was Maury County, where the jobless rate dropped a tenth of a percentage point to 5.4%.
The local unemployment rate was based on an estimated local work force of 8,919, of which 8,472 were employed and 447 were without work during the month.
The work force increased by nearly 200 workers from May to June, up from 8,743. To underscore the impact that had on the unemployment rate, the number of working Scott Countians actually increased over the month, from 8,415 to 8,472, despite the unemployment rate increase. The number of unemployed Scott Countians increased from 328 to 447.
Among neighboring Tennessee counties, Anderson County saw its jobless rate increase from 2.9% to 3.7%, Campbell County from 3.4% to 4.2%, Fentress County from 3.3% to 3.8%, Morgan County from 3.5% to 4.3%, and Pickett County from 4.8% to 5.6%.
Scott County’s May-to-June unemployment rate increase of 1.2 percentage points tied with Lake and Chester counties as the largest increase in the state. Several other counties experienced an unemployment rate increase of 1.1 points during the month.
The statewide unemployment rate was 3.8% in June, while the national unemployment rate was 4.4%.
Scott County’s jobless rate remains relatively low against historical trends. Since county-level unemployment records began being kept in the early 1970s, Scott County has had an unemployment rate less than 5.0% during 84 of 573 months. The average unemployment rate during that time has been 10.4.%. Since the Covid-19 pandemic ended in 2021, however, Scott County’s average unemployment rate has been 4.5%.
