Unemployment in Tennessee fell to its lowest level in nine years last month as employers across the Volunteer State added 83,800 jobs over the past year.
Tennessee’s jobless rate fell by .2 percent in April to 4.3 percent – the lowest level since May 2007 before the Great Recession. The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday that non-farm employment grew by 2.8 percent over the past year, or nearly 50 percent faster than the national average growth pace.
“In the past few quarters, Tennessee has really surged ahead and is now one of the strongest growth states in the nation,” said Matt Murray, associate director at the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. “We’re seeing broad-based growth across nearly all sectors.”
Tennessee’s jobless rate was well below the 5 percent nationwide rate and the 5.5 percent rate in neighboring Georgia last month.
But while unemployment in the Peach State remained above the U.S. average, Georgia employers continued to add jobs at a faster pace. Georgia employment in the past year grew by a robust 3.3 percent, adding 140,800 jobs over the past year. But the workforce also grew in Georgia, keeping the unemployment rate elevated above most of the nation.