Labor/Workforce

Right to Work State
Area Labor Study
Labor/Workforce Contacts

Right-to-Work State

The State of Tennessee does not require employees to join a Union as a condition of receiving or retaining a job.

Area Labor Study

The Pathfinders Group in Memphis, Tennessee, performed an evaluation of the labor quality and availability within the Northwest Tennessee/Southwest Kentucky area and analyzed the underemployed and potential reentry workforce. The analysis spanned parts of six counties in Tennessee and three in Kentucky (i.e. Henry, Weakly, Gibson, Dyer, Obion, and Lake in Tennessee and Hickman, Fulton, and part of Graves County in Kentucky). See map. According to the study, Obion County offers the following workforce:

AREA POPULATION/WORKFORCE - Household population of 259,300 and a civilian laborforce of 122,300
TOTAL AVAILABLE WORKERS - 22,500 available workers for new or expanding businesses
UNEMPLOYED - Approximately 8,300 unemployed persons actively seeking work
UNDEREMPLOYED - 14,100 workers currently employed who are interested in changing jobs. These workers are "underemployed" because they appear to possess the skills, experience, and education to qualify them for the pay rates at which they would take a new job.
REENTRY - 3,100 people, neither employed nor seeking work, might re-enter the workforce for the proper job
PAYRATE - Median current pay rate of the underemployed worker is $13.15 per hour, median desired pay rate of the underemployed worker is $15.18 per hour. About 25% of the underemployed workers would take a new job for $10.48 per hour or less. At the upper end, the 25% most qualified and experienced will command more than $21.45 per hour.

Labor Availability Report

Employment Skills of Underemployed Workers

Employment Experience of Underemployed Workers

Labor/Workforce Contacts

Contacts
Northwest Tennessee Career Center	(731) 885-0360
Northwest Tennessee Workforce Board	(731) 256-3585
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development	(615) 741-1031