State added 28,000 new jobs last year

NASHVILLE - Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips today announced Tennessee ended 2017 with more than 28,000 new jobs across the state in the last year and an unemployment rate nearly 2 percentage points lower than 2016.

In 2017 a total of 28,700 nonfarm jobs were created across the state. The largest increases occurred in the leisure and hospitality industry, followed by education and health services. Since 2011, 391,300 net new private sector jobs have been created in Tennessee.

"Jobs are created when businesses put capital at risk, and we've created an environment in Tennessee that encourages job growth and is attracting more companies to expand and locate here." Haslam said. "But we've also invested in our citizens through Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect to prepare our workforce for the job demands of today's employers."

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate in Tennessee for December 2017 was 3.2 percent, 1.9 percentage points less than the rate in December 2016, but a 0.1 percentage point increase from November.

Tennessee first marked a historic low unemployment rate in June at 3.6 percent, which was bested by the July rate of 3.4 percent, and then fell even lower in August to 3.3 percent. It hit a new historic low of 3 percent in both September and October. November's rate inched up to 3.1 percent.

Tennessee's unemployment rate continues to post well below the national rate of 4.1 percent, which has remained unchanged since October.

"To have a six month stretch of such low unemployment is great for Tennesseans," Phillips said. "But we know there are still citizens searching for a good job and the state is ready to help them find that job."

Resources to help Tennesseans find employment, along with more information on the unemployment rate and labor force are available at Jobs4TN.gov.

A complete analysis of the December 2017 unemployment statistics for Tennessee is available here.

The state will release the county unemployment rates for December 2017 on Thursday, January 25, 2018 at1:30 p.m. CST.