Tennessee's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.3 percent in January remained unchanged from the end of 2018 and well below the national jobless rate of 4 percent.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said today that Tennessee employers added 61,200 jobs over the past year, including 8,300 more jobs added from December to January. Employment over the past 12 months grew by a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.5 percent in Tennessee, exceeding the 1.4 percent growth in jobs nationwide.
Tennessee has had a statewide unemployment rate of 3.3 percent for the last four consecutive months.
"Tennessee continues to experience a strong economy with record low unemployment," Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in an announcement of the monthly jobless figures.
Nationally, January's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 4.0 percent, up 0.1 of a percentage point from December.
In Tennessee over the past year, employment growth was fastest in leisure and hospitality, up 5.3 percent, and in construction, which rose by 5.2 percent. The only major categories of year-over-year declines in employment were in educational services, down by 3.3 percent, and state government, down by 3 percent.
"We continue to see low unemployment levels in our state," said Jeff McCord, Tennessee's commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development. "Job creators are investing, and we are continuing our efforts to ensure they have the qualified workforce necessary for their businesses to succeed."
Despite the improved job market, the average weekly pay for Tennessee manufacturing workers in January fell by $26.56 from December due to a slight drop in both the average pay and average workweek at the start of 2019.
Tennessee's average factory wage of $19.89 an hour in January was more than 9 percent below the U.S. average of $21.86 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.