Tennessee jobless rate rises above U.S. level in May

Unemployment in Tennessee rose last month by a tenth a percent to again exceed the national rate for joblessness.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said today that 6.4 percent of Tennessee workers were without jobs during May, up from 6.3 percent in April and a fraction above the U.S. jobless rate of 6.3 percent last month.

Despite the monthly increase, unemployment in May in Tennessee was still down by 1.2 percentage points from a year ago when the state's jobless rate was 7.5 percent. Tennessee added 6,700 jobs last month, primarily in hospitality, retail trade and local government. But those gains were offset by an even bigger increase in the number of persons in the labor force.

Over the past year, nonfarm employment increased across Tennessee by 56,900 jobs. The largest increases occurred in professional/business services, leisure/hospitality, and trade/transportation/utilities.

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