Unemployment in Tennessee remained at a 15-year low and Georgia’s jobless rate fell to the lowest level in nine years during May as employers in both states continued to hire workers at a faster pace than the nation as a whole.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday the statewide jobless rate in May was unchanged at 4.1 percent, which remained the lowest monthly unemployment rate in Tennessee since April 2001.
In neighboring Georgia, unemployment fell another two-tenths of a percent to 5.1 percent. The Georgia Department of Labor said that is the lowest jobless rate for the Peach State in eight and a half years.
“We’re really seeing strong growth across almost every sector of the economy,” said Dr. Bill Fox, director of the Center for Business at the University of Tennessee. “I think the picture remains very, very good for Tennessee, and we see economic growth continuing for the foreseeable future.”
Over the past 12 months, employment grew by 123,200 jobs, or 2.9 percent, in Georgia, and by 66,800 jobs, or by 2.3 percent in Tennessee. Job growth in both states easily outpaced the national employment gain of 1.7 percent, even though the U.S. jobless rate of 4.9 percent in May was still slightly below the 5.1 percent rate in Georgia.