News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Clay County has posted Tennessee’s highest unemployment rating for the third consecutive month.
That according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The state reports Clay County’s unemployment rate was 5.4 percent for the month of May.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kevin Donaldson said the closing of Cumberland River Hospital earlier this year affected the statistic.
“It’s the basic reason, as best as we can tell, for the increase that we’ve had,” Donaldson said. “But we have seen a decrease [in unemployment] in the past two months. When we look at the raw numbers of the potential job loss when the hospital was closed, the numbers actually could have gone considerably higher.”
Clay County’s unemployment numbers jumped by over half a percent between February and March when the Celina hospital closed. The county’s rate increased from the seventh-highest in February at 5.4 percent to the state’s highest at six percent in March.
Despite the increase, Donaldson said the county is doing all it can to bring more jobs to the citizens of Clay County.
“One way is the development of the Mitchell Street Industrial Property, which will give us some inventory to have when we have potential new industrial clients involved,” Donaldson said. “But it’s not only geared towards having a place and being able to recruit something new to come in, but also to have a place for any existing industry here that might have a need for expansion.”
Clay County was selected last month to receive an industrial site development grant to help improve the Mitchell Street Industrial Property.
