Haslam announces lowest unemployment rate in history

NASHVILLE - Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips today announced the state unemployment rate fell to 3 percent in September, marking the lowest it has been since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the information in January of 1976.

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.

"Since June, the state's unemployment rate has been on a steady, record-breaking decline. Behind these history making figures are real working Tennesseans - people who get up and go to work each day to provide for their families," Haslam said. "As a state, we have invested in our workforce through education programs like Tennessee Reconnect and Tennessee Promise, creating a workforce prepared to fill jobs and increasing the number of high-skilled Tennesseans."

While Tennessee's latest unemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percentage points, the rate for the United States dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 4.2 percent. The national rate is down 0.7 percentage points from September 2016 while Tennessee's seasonally adjusted rate for September 2017 is down 1.9 percentage points from the previous year.

"The fact the unemployment rate is down nearly 2 percentage points from a year ago is great news," Phillips said. "But if you look back to January of 2010, when the rate was above 10 percent, you can clearly see the progress Tennessee has made since then."

Total nonfarm employment increased by 800 from August to September, with the largest increases in the trade/transportation/utilities sectors. Between September 2016 and September 2017, nonfarm employment increased by more than 44,000 jobs.

More information on the unemployment rate, labor force and resources to help Tennesseans find jobs is available on Jobs4TN.gov.

The county unemployment rates for September 2017 will be published on Thursday, October 26, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. CT