Tennessee’s May unemployment rate reaches historic low

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee’s unemployment rate hit an all-time low in May, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development (TDLWD). However, some economists said that number may not fully capture the current state of the labor market.

The state’s unemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percent between April and May to just three percent, making it the lowest since the federal government began tracking the statistic in 1976. During that same time, the nation’s unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percent to four percent.

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“Tennessee’s booming economy and strategic investments in workforce development and job creation have set the standard for success nationwide,” Governor Bill Lee said in a press release. “Now, we’re making history with record-low unemployment, ensuring Tennessee remains a beacon of opportunity, security, and freedom for all.”

Tennessee’s unemployment rate has been on a steady decline since February. Commissioner Deniece Thomas, who heads Labor & Workforce Development, spoke with News 2 in April about the state’s progress.

“Overall, I think Tennessee is still seeing a pretty remarkable unemployment rate across the state,” Thomas said.

According to the TDLWD’s April data , Williamson County’s unemployment rate is the lowest in the state at 2.0 percent. Lauderdale County and Clay County are among the highest rates at 4.1 percent each. The press release noted that the state will release each county’s May unemployment data on June 27.

“The counties that are struggling a little bit with the growth, I think a lot of that has to be reckoned to just the change in activity,” Thomas said in April. “As workers are leaving one job and going to another, they may be going to an adjacent county, so all those things we have to dive deeper into the numbers to get an exact science, but as you well know with the labor market exact is pretty hard to get to.”

While Tennessee’s low unemployment rate may look good on paper, some economists said that it may be partly due to the dwindling number of people actively seeking jobs, which is depicted in the state’s labor force participation rate.

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In April, Tennessee’s labor force participation rate was 59.8 percent, according to TDLWD data , which was lower than the national average of 62.5 percent. Despite that, the state’s labor force participation rate has remained relatively steady, only fluctuating a little more than one percent in the last year.

The TDLWD said that Tennessee employers created 3,300 new non-farm jobs between April and May. According to the Jobs4TN website , there are 219,000 current job openings in the state.

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