Unemployment dropped in Georgia to a record low of 3.2% last month while Tennessee ended the year with a jobless rate of 3.3% – just a tenth of a percentage point higher than the all-time low reached in Tennessee during February.
State data released Thursday in showed both Tennessee and Georgia had lower unemployment in December than the U.S. average of 3.5%. But the pace of new hiring in both states slowed last year from the faster growth rates in the previous three years.
“The economy continues to do well, but the pace of that growth, especially as measured by employment, has to slow because labor force growth itself is slowing,” said Dr. William Fox, director of the Boyd Center for Economic Research at the University of Tennessee. “The unemployment rate is so low now that we don’t have the capacity to sustain the kinds of growth rates that we saw over the last decade.”
Jobless in December
* 3.2% – Unemployment rate in Georgia, down 0.1% from the previous month* 3.3% – Unemployment rate in Tennessee, unchanged from the previous month* 3.5% – Unemployment average for the U.S., unchanged from the previous monthSources: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Georgia Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Tennessee’s jobless rate last month remained unchanged from November and employers added a net 2,000 more jobs in the month or 49,200 jobs over the past 12 months.