Unemployment fell last month to the lowest monthly level in nearly seven years in both Tennessee and Georgia.
But the jobless rate in both states remained above the national rate of 5.5 percent despite faster job growth in the Southern states.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate during March fell by three-tenths of a percentage point to 6.3 percent. In Georgia, unemployment was unchanged and matched Tennessee’s 6.3 percent rate.
Although both states continued to have above-average unemployment rates, they also showed strong year-over-year job gains. Tennessee employment grew 2.1 percent from March 2014 to March 2015, adding 58,100 jobs. Georgia showed an even stronger 3.1 percent employment growth over the past 12 months, adding 127,100 jobs — the strongest March-to-March growth in the state since 2000
“While the rate held steady in March, we have seen considerable improvement since it began a steady decline from November 2010, when it was 10.5 percent,” Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said. “In fact, the jobless rate has either declined or remained steady every month since then.”