Jobless rate up in Tennessee but still near historic low

FILE - This April 22, 2014, file photo shows an employment application form on a table during a job fair at Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson, N.Y. The Labor Department releases its weekly report on applications for unemployment benefits on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File) FILE - This April 22, 2014, file photo shows an employment application form on a table during a job fair at Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson, N.Y. The Labor Department releases its weekly report on applications for unemployment benefits on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)

By Dave Flessner December 21, 2017 3 min read

Unemployment edged up last month in Tennessee, but the jobless rate in the Volunteer State remained a full percentage point below the U.S. average as employers across the state added 36,200 jobs during the past 12 months.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday that unemployment in the state averaged 3.1 percent in November, up from the record low of 3 percent in the previous two months.

Tennessee’s jobless rate was still well below the U.S. average of 4.1 percent or the 4.3 percent rate in neighboring Georgia, even though Georgia’s overall employment last month rose to a record high.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said the state’s jobless rate is down a full 2 percentage points from the 5.1 percent unemployment rate of a year ago and employment continued to grow last month, just not as fast as the overall labor force.

Jobless in November

› 3.1 percent in Tennessee, up 0.1 percent from the previous month› 4.3 percent in Georgia, unchanged from the previous month› 4.1 percent in the U.S. as a whole, unchanged from the previous monthSources: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Georgia Department of Labor