Tennessee began the new year with its lowest jobless rate in modern history as the Volunteer State continued to add jobs nearly twice as fast as the national average.
Unemployment in the Volunteer State remained at an historic low of 3.3 percent in January, according to figures released Thursday by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Tennessee’s jobless rate was well below the 4.1 percent rate for the U.S. as a whole in January and was unchanged from the state’s revised 3.3 percent rate that has held steady since last September.
“Tennessee’s economy continues to grow at a faster pace than the U.S. average and we expect to see continued growth in the economy this year,” said Dr. Bill Fox, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee.
Employment grew in the past year across Tennessee by 2.7 percent, or nearly twice the U.S. growth pace of 1.5 percent, according to household surveys by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Tennessee employers added 81,900 jobs over the past 12 months to grow the state’s employment total to more than 3.1 million.
“To have this long stretch of low unemployment in Tennessee is a true testament to the economic climate in the state,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said in a statement. “Many employers continue to tap into Tennessee’s talented workforce, and Tennessee will lead in job creation by continuing to focus on workforce development.”