State unemployment rises to 5.9 percent

NASHVILLE (AP) ? Tennessee?s unemployment rate for July rose to 5.9 percent, up from June’s adjusted rate of 5.6, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday.

The rate remains above the national unemployment rate for July at 4.8 percent, which is up from the June rate of 4.6 percent.

Commissioner James Neeley said that similar to last month, the unemployment rate rose from June due largely to an increase in the number of people seeking employment.

Jobs in arts, entertainment and recreation were up by 1,000 while employment in trade, transportation and utilities increased by 800. Hospital employment increased by 700 jobs.

Seasonal month-to-month employment decreases took place in local government educational services with 12,600 jobs lost. Manufacturing employment dropped by 4,500 jobs. State government educational services lost 3,100 jobs.

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(AP) ? Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted its first profit decline in a decade Tuesday as the world’s largest retailer was forced to pay a hefty price for withdrawing from Germany, selling its stores there at a loss to a rival.

Chief Executive Lee Scott also said sales at Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores were disappointing as high gas and energy prices hit the pocketbooks of customers.

The last time Wal-Mart saw quarterly profit fall was in 1996.

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DALLAS (AP) ? In the largest electronics-related recall involving the Consumer Products Safety Commission, Dell Inc. agreed to replace 4.1 million notebook computer batteries made by Sony Corp. because they can burst into flames.

A Dell spokesman said Monday that the Sony batteries were placed in notebooks that were shipped between April 1, 2004, and July 18 of this year. The battery packs were included in some models of Round Rock, Texas-based Dell’s Latitude, Inspiron, XPS and precision mobile workstation notebooks. Dell launched a Web site, www.dellbatteryprogram.com, that described the affected models. Williams said the Web site would tell consumers how to get free replacement batteries from Dell.