Rhea County marks Tennessee's second worst jobless rate in December

Unemployment in Rhea County in the last month of 2016 was the second highest of any county in Tennessee following the shutdown last year of both Goodman Manufacturing and Fujifilm Hunt plants in Dayton, Tenn.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said the jobless rate in Rhea County rose by 1.2 percentage points during December to 9 percent - the highest monthly rate since June 2014. Only Lake County in the Northwest corner of Tennessee had a higher unemployment rate in December at 10.2 percent.

The jobless rate in Rhea County at the end of last year was nearly double the U.S. jobless rate of 4.7 percent of the statewide rate of 4.9 percent.

All 95 counties across Tennessee experienced increases in jobless rates from November to December 2016, but Rhea County maintained the highest rate in Southeast Tennessee, double the 4.2 percent rate in neighboring Bradley County which boasted the lowest jobless rate in the region.

A year ago, Rhea County's jobless rate in December 2015 was 7.8 percent. But plant closings last summer left Rhea County with a net loss of 50 jobs over the past year, even while the overall labor market grew by 120 workers.

Fujifilm Holdings officials said in June 2016 that 84 employees at the Dayton plant would be idled. Goodman officials said in January 2015 that 2,000 Tennessee jobs would be moved out of state - about 600 of those jobs being cut from the plant in Dayton. Goodman's Dayton plant closed at the end of September, dealing another negative impact to Rhea County jobs.

In Goodman's August 2016 letter to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, jobs idled at the plant numbered 293.

Despite the end-of-the year dip, Dayton Mayor Gary Louallen said "2017 is going to be a big year."

Fujifilm Hunt on Oct. 1 became a subsidiary of Fuji-film Manufacturing U.S.A. Inc., and Louallen believes the plant will survive in Dayton, although he declined to offer specifics.

Louallen said the negative impact from the shuttering of the Goodman plant is lingering. Some former Goodman employees have not yet sought new jobs, Louallen said.

But that could change, he said.

"We have a major company we're trying to get in here who could absorb those idled workers," Louallen said.

Around the rest of Southeast Tennessee, unemployment remained highest in rural counties. Bledsoe County, where 7.6 percent of the labor market was out of work in December, also ranked in the bottom 10 counties. Grundy County was close to the bottom 10 counties, notching a fairly dismal 82nd among Tennessee's counties with a December jobless rate of 7.3 percent.

Bradley's December unemployment figures were lowest in the region at 4.2 percent, but Warren County wasn't far behind at 4.6 percent. Coffee, Loudon and Hamilton counties were grouped closely at 4.9, 4.9 and 4.8, respectively.

Like Louallen, economists in Tennessee are predicting a brighter picture for 2017, according to an annual economic report given to Gov. Bill Haslam last week ahead of his State of the State address. The Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee projects Tennessee employment will grow another 1.4 percent this year and 1.2 percent next year.

"We saw as 2016 closed out wage rates rising at a faster pace and I would expect that to continue for at least the next couple of years," the center's associate director Matt Murray said last week.

Murray said labor shortages may limit business growth in some tight labor markets so counties near metro cities with available workers such as Rhea County could benefit as the job market continues to improve.

"Tight labor markets are going to contribute to further rises in average hourly earnings. Wages have been stagnant since the Great Recession, so these increases should be really good news for American workers," Murray said.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.