Local unemployment exceeds national rate

The fresh employment picture provided by the U.S. Labor Department on Friday showed that payrolls grew by just 88,000 last month as job losses spread beyond manufacturing and construction and into retailing and financial services. Workers? paycheck also grew more slowly.

The new tally of jobs added to the economy was the fewest since 65,000 jobs in November 2004. The rise in the unemployment rate, however, was slight compared with March?s 4.4 percent rate ? which had matched a five-year low. Taken together the figures suggest the labor market may be cooling ? but not collapsing ? as the national economy makes its way through a soft patch.

Given the housing slump, rising energy prices and slowing overall economic activity, ?companies are being conservative when it comes to their new hiring,? said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America?s Investment Strategies Group. ?Job seekers will need to have good resumes.?

As for the state of Tennessee, the latest figures show state unemployment has dipped to 4.7 percent, down from 4.9 percent the previous month.

Warren County?s unemployment rate dropped slightly from 7.5 to 7.4 percent.

As is customary, Williamson County led Tennessee with the lowest unemployment rate at 3.2 percent.

Pickett County has the state?s highest unemployment at 10.3 percent. That was down significantly from 12 percent the month before. Pickett County is the only county in the state with double-digit unemployment. Clay County has the next highest rate at 8.7 percent.

Knox County has the lowest unemployment rate for a metropolitan area at 3.5 percent. Shelby County is the highest with a rate of 5.6 percent.

Overall, 85 Tennessee counties saw unemployment decrease. It increased in seven counties and remained unchanged in three.