County by county unemployment numbers were a mixed bag in Middle Tennessee for August, with nearly an equal number shifting slightly higher or slightly lower compared to a month earlier.
Davidson County’s jobless rate edged up three-tenths of a percentage point to 8.8 percent, while the Nashville-Murfreesboro region as a whole reported an 8.5 percent jobless rate. The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported these other results in the following counties compared to July rates:
" Cannon, 9.5 percent unemployment, up three-tenths of a percentage point.
" Cheatham, 9 percent, up from 8.4 percent.
" Dickson, 9.6 percent, down from 10.1 percent.
" Hickman, 10.5 percent, down from an 11 percent rate.
" Macon, 9.3 percent, down from 10.6 percent.
" Robertson, 8.7 percent, down three-tenths of a point.
" Rutherford, steady at 8.4 percent unemployment.
" Smith, 9.1 percent unemployment, down from 9.8 percent.
" Sumner, 8.4 percent, up one-tenth of a percentage point.
" Trousdale, 10.7 percent, down from 11.1 percent.
" Williamson, 6.8 percent, up one-tenth.
" Wilson, 8.1 percent, up two-tenths of a percentage point.
— Randy McClain
Bridgestone to add McMinnville jobsBridgestone added one more plant expansion with an announcement this morning that it will spend $36.6 million and add 50 jobs at its McMinnville bus and truck tire plant. The project is to be completed by the first quarter of 2013. Earlier this week, the company announced projects in Clarksville, Tenn.; and Aiken County, S.C.
— G. Chambers Williams III
