State unemployment rate falls to 16-year low and below U.S. rate

Tennessee’s jobless rate dips to 4 percent

Unemployment in Tennessee fell to the lowest monthly level in more than 16 years last month as employment grew across the state in the past year at twice the growth rate of the rest of the country.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday the statewide jobless rate in May fell by seven-tenths of a percent from April’s level to 4 percent in May. That’s the lowest jobless rate in Tennessee since February 2001, when 3.9 percent of the workforce in Tennessee was out of work.

“May’s unemployment rate is notable for a couple of reasons,” Tennessee Labor Commissioner Burns Phillips said. “It’s the lowest rate Tennessee has seen in about 20 years, which is outstanding, and the state figure is now lower than the national average.”

Nationwide, the U.S. jobless rate averaged 4.3 percent last month.

In neighboring Georgia, unemployment fell to the lowest level in nearly a decade. The 4.9 percent jobless rate in the Peach State was the first time unemployment has fallen below 5 percent since 2007.

Georgia employment in the past year also continued to grow at nearly twice the U.S. rate, even though the jobless rate in Georgia remains above the U.S. average.

Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday the growth in jobs and drop in unemployment “is a testament to the attractiveness of Georgia’s job market when we continue to see more and more individuals enter and re-enter the job market and find employment.”

Over the past year, Georgia gained a total of 103,100 jobs, a 2.4 percent growth rate.

According to household surveys by the BLS, employment in Tennessee grew by 72,100 jobs in the past year. That 2.4 percent growth pace was double the comparable U.S. growth rate of 1.2 percent.

The fastest growth in jobs across Tennessee in the past year came in state government, up by 7.1 percent, construction, up 6.7 percent, and real estate rental and leasing, up 6.3 percent.

“May’s unemployment rate is notable for a couple of reasons. It’s the lowest rate Tennessee has seen in about 20 years, which is outstanding, and the state figure is now lower than the national average.” – BURNS PHILLIPS, TENNESSEE LABOR COMMISSIONER