State adds jobs at 1.5 times U.S. rate

March joblessness at 3.4 percent still near historic low

Tennessee employers added jobs at more than one and a half times the rate of the rest of the country over the past year, adding 69,700 jobs in the past 12 months and cutting Tennessee’s jobless rate well below the national average.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday the state’s jobless rate in March was 3.4 percent, unchanged from the previous month and seven tenths of a percentage point below the U.S. jobless rate of 4.1 percent for March.

Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed Tennesseans dropped by 17.1 percent, or 22,700, to lower the state’s jobless rate from 4.2 percent in March 2017 to 3.4 percent last month. Since the unemployment rate peaked in Tennessee at 9.4 percent in 2010, the jobless rate across Tennessee has been cut by nearly two thirds.

The jobs numbers were welcomed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who said the low unemployment rate reflects the state’s efforts to grow the economy and create more jobs.

Over the past 12 months, employment in Tennessee grew by 2.3 percent compared

with only a 1.5 percent growth in jobs nationwide, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“The year-to-year comparison of unemployment rates shows how much progress has been made in creating new jobs in Tennessee,” Haslam said.

But with unemployment the lowest for any March in modern history, most manufacturers across the state report having at least some difficulty filling jobs with qualified workers. In a presentation to local factory operators Thursday, the head of the Tennessee Manufacturers Association, Denise Rice, said a recent survey found 84 percent of manufacturers reported “moderate to extreme difficulty” in filling vacant jobs. The average time to fill a factory job in Tennessee is now over 70 days, she said.

“In the past, the biggest concerns among our members have been focused on taxes or regulations, but overwhelmingly now the biggest concerns to our members now are workforce issues related to getting and keeping qualified workers,” Rice said.

Although Tennessee’s unemployment rate is near an all-time low, workforce participation among all adults is still below 60 percent in Tennessee, well below the 64 percent rate reached a decade ago before the Great Recession, Rice said. A bigger share of the adult population is in school or are retired, but a bigger share is also disabled or addicted to opioids and other drugs, Rice said.

Tennessee’s statewide unemployment rate has remained below 4 percent since last May, hitting an all-time low of 3.3 percent last September.

“Government doesn’t create jobs – jobs are created when businesses put capital at risk,” Haslam said in a report on the new jobless numbers. “That’s why we have worked hard to create an environment in Tennessee where businesses can grow and thrive and we continue to invest in our citizens, creating a skilled workforce that is ready for today’s job demands.”

In the past 12 months, both government and private employers added jobs across Tennessee, but most of the employment gains were in the private sector which grew five times as fast as public sector jobs.

Despite the historically low jobless rate, Tennessee wages remain nearly 17 percent below the U.S. average, according to the BLS.

In February, the most recent month available, the average manufacturing hourly wage in Tennessee was $19.60, up from an hourly rate of $19.26 a year ago.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfree press.com.