After losing its only hospital, Scott County is feeling the effects in its unemployment rate.
Scott County again has the highest unemployment rate in the state, at 18.5%. From 15.8% one month prior (May), it's the biggest jump in more than 2 years.
This is mostly to blame due to the closure of the Scott County Hospital in May; more than 200 jobs were lost. Leaders are working on a deal with S. M Promen to reopen the hospital later this year.
"Our target date is Oct. 1; that may be an optimistic time frame but the lawyers are going back and forth between both parties," said Scott County Mayor Jeff Tibbals.
Many of those jobs are expected to eventually return, as a result of the eventual reopening.
Tibbals said the news did not come as a surprise, but added the county was expected to see unemployment increases- whether the hospital closed or not.
"I went over the numbers in the last four years, and in June there's always a spike in the unemployment rate," he added.
That's because high school graduates go to the Scott County workforce, looking for any sort of employment to no avail. That only added to the workforce, with an additional 250 people classified as "unemployed."
Tibbals expects another company to start hiring 60 more jobs in the coming month, on top of the eventual return of the Scott County Hospital.
Other numbers
Unemployment has increased is all 95 counties in the state.
This June, Tennessee's unemployment rate rose to 8.1%, which is up from May's revised rate of 7.9%
Knox County has the third lowest unemployment rate at 6.7%.
The state's rate is slightly lower than the national unemployment rate for June, which was 8.2%.