Tennessee's May Unemployment Rate Inched Up

Tennessee's statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May 2019 inched up slightly to 3.3 percent after remaining at an all-time historic low for three consecutive months, according to data released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD).

May's preliminary rate of 3.3 percent is 0.1 of a percentage point higher than the previous month's rate. Since February, unemployment across the state had held steady at a record 3.2 percent.

When comparing year-to-year statistics, the current rate is 0.3 of a percentage point lower than it was in May 2018.
In a year-to-year comparison, employers created 47,400 non farm jobs between May 2018 and May 2019 with the leisure/hospitality, trade/transportation/utilities, and manufacturing seeing the most jobs added.
Nationally, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6 percent, mirroring April's national rate and marks a 0.2 of a percentage point drop to the same time last year.