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Jobless rate in Tennessee falls to an all-time low

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. On Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. On Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. On Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

By Dave Flessner 2 min read

Unemployment in Tennessee dropped last month to the lowest level on record after employers across the state added 49,100 jobs over the past year.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said today that the jobless rate in July in Tennessee fell by two tenths of a percentage point to 3.4 percent.

“A continuing decline in the state unemployment rate is great news for all Tennesseans,” Tennessee Labor Commissioner Burns Phillips said in an announcement of the historically low unemployment level. “However, it doesn’t matter how low the unemployment rate is if you are out of work. That’s why we are not letting up on the push to create new jobs across the state and help improve the quality of life for Tennessee families.”

Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate during July was eight-tenths of a percentage point below the national jobless rate of 4.4 percent last month and was down by 1.4 percentage points from a year ago when Tennessee’s jobless rate was 4.8 percent.

Employment is growing at both new and existing businesses. The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office released figures today showing that the number of business filings across the state in the second quarter grew in the past year by 12.4 percent, including an 18 percent gain in business filings in Hamilton County.