Jobless rate edges up in Tennessee as employment growth slows

Employment growth continued to outpace the national average in Tennessee and Georgia last month despite a slight uptick in the jobless rate in the Volunteer State.

Tennessee's statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May rose a tenth of a percentage point to 3.3% after remaining at an all-time historic low of 3.2% for each of the previous three consecutive months, according to data released Thursday by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The Georgia Department of Labor said Thursday that unemployment last month in the Peach State was unchanged at 3.8%, which remained slightly above the U.S. jobless rate of 3.6% in May.

A household survey of workers showed the number of jobs across Tennessee grew by 2.8 percent, or 88,400 net new jobs, in the 12 months ending in May. That was more than triple the growth rate in jobs nationwide and again boosted the number of Tennesseans on the job to an all-time high of more than 3.2 million.

The employers survey showed a more modest 1.6 % growth in jobs over the past year in Tennessee - and 1.5 % in Georgia. But that was still higher than the U.S. average in both states and kept their jobless rates near historic lows.

"We're seeing a bit of a slowdown in the rate of employment growth, but there is nothing surprising about this with the economy operating close to capacity," said Dr. Bill Fox, director of economic forecasting at the University of Tennessee's Center for Business and Economic Research. "Basically, everyone who has skills and wants a job already has one so we can only add workers as new people come into the labor force or people take more jobs. There is nothing negative in seeing somewhat slower growth rates in a window where the economy is so fully employed."

Tennessee Career Centers on Thursday listed 193,282 available jobs. That's nearly twice as many jobs as the 102,700 persons in the state last month who were unemployed but still looking for work.

"It's natural to experience a fluctuation in unemployment rates," Tennessee Labor Commissioner Jeff McCord said. "Fortunately, Tennessee has not seen much movement recently. While the rate did increase in May, the increase is minimal and still indicates we have a strong economy across much of the state."

Manufacturing wages grew by an average of 61 cents an hour in the past year, boosting the average hourly pay for factory workers in Tennessee last month to $20.30 an hour.

In Georgia, employment also grew in May to a record high of more than 4.5 million, while claims for unemployment insurance were down 8 when compared to last May and were down 2 percent from the total in April.

"We are continuing to see Georgia grow jobs and overall we're still seeing fewer layoffs year over year." Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said. "It just goes to show the strength of Georgia's economy."

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.