By Angela Hatton
Frankfort, KY – Kentucky and Tennessee labor department officials are reporting July unemployment rates. Kentucky jobless rate hit eleven percent last month, its highest since 1983. It's also four and a half percent higher than July of last year. State officials in Tennessee are seeing a slight decrease in their numbers. The unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percent to 10.7 in July. However, Labor Commissioner James Neeley says the decrease is "mostly a result of discouraged workers dropping out of the work force." Both states continue to top the national unemployment rate, which was 9.4 percent last month.