By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Barren County’s unemployment rate is almost a full percentage point higher than last year.
The Kentucky Center for Statistics recently released its preliminary county unemployment data comparing the numbers between January 2024 and 2025.
Barren County joined the other 108 Kentucky counties where unemployment increased. The preliminary number has the county at an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent in January 2025, compared to 5.5 percent last year. That puts Barren County nine-tenths of a percentage point above the Barren River Region’s and the commonwealth’s averages, both of which were 5.5 percent.
Though December 2024’s unemployment number was 5.6 percent, the data shows more people employed. Four hundred forty-four more people are reportedly in the current labor force with 165 more deemed unemployed, according to the center for statistics.
Kentucky’s county unemployment rates and employment levels are not seasonally adjusted because of small sample sizes.
“Employment statistics undergo sharp fluctuations due to seasonal events such as weather changes, harvests, holidays, and school openings and closings,” the release states. “Seasonal adjustments eliminate these influences and make it easier to observe statistical trends.”
The United States comparable rate was 4.4 percent.
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