The Messenger 06.22.12

From staff, AP reports
Obion County continues to be locked in the No. 2 position among the Tennessee counties with the highest unemployment rates.
The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development released its May jobless report Thursday, showing Obion County with the second highest rate in the state at 13.2 percent.
The local unemployment rate increased 0.5 percent from April to May, according to the state unemployment report.
Over the past eight months, Obion County has had the second highest jobless rate in the state for seven of those months and was ranked third in the state in February.
Obion County’s 13.2 percent May unemployment rate translates to 1,770 people out of work across the county.
Elsewhere across northwest Tennessee, the May jobless rate was:
• 9.5 percent in Lake County.
• 11.4 percent in Weakley County.
• 10.7 percent in Gibson County.
• 10. 8 percent in Dyer County.
Across Tennessee, the May jobless rate increased in 87 counties, decreased in three counties and remained unchanged in five counties, according to the state unemployment report.
Lincoln and Williamson counties had a 5.4 percent unemployment rate in May, the lowest in the state. Obion, Weakley and Lauderdale counties in West Tennessee were listed among the 10 counties with the highest May jobless rates, according to the state report.
Tennessee’s unemployment increased slightly in May, the first increase in two years.
The 7.9 percent unemployment rate is up from 7.7 percent in April.
Labor and Workforce Development Commission-er Karla Davis said in a release on June 14 that the increase in the jobless rate is mainly due to people “re-entering the workforce to look for work.”
The national unemployment rate for May was 8.2 percent, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month.
Education and health services saw the biggest increase compared with last month, at a growth rate of 1.5 percent. Next were jobs in mining, logging and construction at 1.2 percent, and positions in government at 0.2 percent.
Across the state line in Kentucky, Fulton County once again had that state’s highest jobless rate at 19.9 percent, followed by Magoffin County at 16.1 percent
Jobless rates improved in 107 Kentucky counties.
The Kentucky Office of Employment and Training released the latest unemployment numbers on Thursday. Those numbers, covering the month of May, showed jobless rates worsened in 12 counties.
Woodford County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 5.3 percent, followed by Hancock at 5.5 percent.
Calloway, Daviess, Fayette, Franklin, Ohio, Oldham, Shelby and Union counties each had rates between 6 and 7 percent.