Over the past year unemployment fell in 117 counties in Kentucky, while going up in just three. That’s according to the Kentucky Center for Statistics. That puts the commonwealth with an unemployment rate of 4-point-2 percent, slightly higher than the national unemployment average of 3-point-8 percent.
Michael Clark is the director for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky. He said Kentucky is doing very well when it comes jobs in the financial sector.
“Think of your bankers, your insurance companies, professional and business services, engineers, architects, accountants, things of that nature. We’re seeing employment in those sectors actually growing faster or are recovering faster here in Kentucky than they have nationally.”
He said Kentucky is lagging behind in some other sectors.
“Manufacturing employment and construction employment nationally have bounced back from the pandemic. We’ve recovered a lot of those jobs in Kentucky, but we have not yet gotten to pre-pandemic levels in these two sectors.”
Magoffin County recorded the highest jobless rate at 11-point-2-percent, followed by Breathitt County at 9-point-1-percent. Cumberland and Woodford counties recorded the lowest jobless rates in the commonwealth at 3 percent each.
**In a sea of partisan news, WEKU is your source for public service, fact-based journalism. Monthly sustaining donors are the top source of funding for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation.
