The job market in Tennessee and Georgia stayed strong at the end of 2022 with employers adding more workers to payrolls and unemployment staying at or below the national average in both states.
Despite growing concerns about an economic slowdown and recent layoffs in the tech industry, Tennessee employers this past year added 104,800 more jobs, according to the state Department of Labor and Workfore Development, while employers in Georgia boosted payrolls by 157,000 jobs compared with a year ago, according to the state Department of Labor.
Tennessee ended 2022 with the jobless rate in December unchanged at 3.5%, matching the 53-year low for the nation as a whole. Georgia’s jobless rate this past month stayed even lower at 3%.
Tennessee employers sustained job growth in December, adding 1,500 nonfarm positions statewide. The largest increase came in the trade, transportation and utilities sector. The government sector added the second-largest number of jobs, followed by the mining, logging and construction sector.
But other numbers continue to show a shrinking labor force, and rapid job growth seen in early 2022 has ebbed, showing an economy that has plateaued.