Jobless in August
* Tennessee’s unemployment rate rose 0.1 percent last month to 3.6 percent* Georgia’s unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percent last month to 3.8 percent* The U.S. unemployment rate last month was unchanged at 3.9 percentSources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Georgia Department of Labor, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Unemployment fell to a 17-year low in Georgia last month while Tennessee's jobless rate remained near historic lows despite a slowdown in employment growth.
Georgia's jobless rate, which had been elevated above the U.S. average since the Great Recession hit in 2007, fell below the U.S. average in August to 3.8 percent - the lowest rate since June 2001 and the first time since 2007 it was below the national rate, according to the Georgia Department of Labor.
"This is a true milestone for us," Georgia Labor Commission Mark Butler said Thursday. "As a state that's seen its workforce expand very quickly, it should be hard for us to drive the unemployment rate down so low. However, we have been employing new workers as fast as we have been adding them."
In August, Georgia hit a record high of 4.96 million employed residents. Over the past year, Georgia employers have added a net 115,000 jobs across the state, outpacing the 82,000 additional workers who entered the labor market over the past 12 months.
"These numbers show how dynamic our economy has been and continues to be," Butler said.
In Tennessee, the state's jobless rate edged up a tenth of a percent to 3.6 percent but still remained below the U.S. rate of 3.9 percent last month. Unemployment in Tennessee during August was at the highest monthly level in 12 months and the 1.2 percent employment growth rate in the Volunteer State over the past year trailed the U.S. growth rate of 1.3 percent in the same period, according to household survey data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
But Tennessee employers still added a net 56,000 more jobs across the state in the past year and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said joblessness is still low in most of Tennessee.
"Even with this very small fluctuation in August, Tennessee's unemployment rate continues to be one of the lowest in the nation," Haslam said in a report on employment growth Thursday. "The fact the rate has seen such little movement over the last year reflects the strength of our state's economy and our work over the past eight years to develop Tennessee's workforce to meet the needs of today's employers."
Tennessee's seasonally adjusted statewide jobless rate has been 4 percent or less since April 2017. The state achieved its all-time lowest unemployment rate of 3.3 percent in September 2017 and it remained at that level through January 2018.
"While new jobs were added in certain sectors last month, some businesses did reduce their workforces," Tennessee Labor Commissioner Burns Phillips said. "No matter how low the unemployment rate may be, the reality is, some Tennesseans are looking for work and the state has many resources available to help them find new employment."
Tennessee's career centers Thursday listed 181,567 job openings, which is 56 percent more than the 116,200 unemployed persons looking for jobs in Tennessee last month, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
The tight labor market helped boost average manufacturing wages in Tennessee last month by 32 cents an hourly average of $20.10, BLS data show. Despite the gain, however, Tennessee manufacturing wages remain 6.2 percent less than the U.S. average hourly rate of $21.42 for factory workers.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340