After five months of steady, low unemployment, Tennessee’s jobless rate goes even lower, county unemployment numbers to be released next week
Nashville – New data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) showed the statewide preliminary unemployment rate for March decreased to 3.4% after the statistic has held steady at 3.5% for the last five months. The decrease put the seasonally adjusted rate for March just 0.2 of a percentage point away from Tennessee’s all-time low jobless number of 3.2%.
In a year-to-year comparison, the statewide unemployment rate increased slightly from 3.3% to 3.4%.
Employers across the state continue to add workers to their payrolls. They created 1,700 new non-farm jobs between Feb. and March. The largest increase occurred in the leisure and hospitality sector. The manufacturing sector and the education and health services sector had the next largest month-to-month increases.
Tennessee also experienced an increase in non-farm employment over the last year. Employers added 96,900 jobs across the state. The leisure and hospitality sector, the education and health services, and then the government sector accounted for the biggest gains in employment.
TDLWD has prepared a complete analysis of the state’s March 2023 unemployment data which is available here. Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate also decreased in March. It dropped 0.1 of a percentage point to 3.5%. When compared to the March 2022 rate, the current figure decreased by 0.1 of a percentage point.
