Unemployment in Tennessee fell to the lowest monthly level in more than 16 years last month as employment grew across the state in the past year at twice the national rate.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said today that the statewide jobless rate in May fell by seven-tenths of a percent from April to 4 percent in May – the lowest rate since February 2001 when 3.9 percent of the workforce in Tennessee was out of work.
“May’s unemployment rate is notable for a couple of reasons,” Tennessee Labor Commissioner Burns Phillips said. “It’s the lowest rate Tennessee has seen in about 20 years, which is outstanding, and the state figure is now lower than the national average.”
Nationwide, the U.S. jobless rate averaged 4.3 percent last month.
In neighboring Georgia, unemployment fell to the lowest level in nearly a decade. The 4.9 percent jobless rate in the Peach State was the first time unemployment has fallen below 5 percent since 2007.