New data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development 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 nonfarm jobs between February 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 nonfarm 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.
Tennessee employers, in every corner of the state, continue to search for a skilled workforce. Jobs4TN.gov has more than 350,000 open positions posted.
Job seekers can find a wide range of information that can help them return to the workforce at TNWorkReady.com. The site has resources available that will point individuals to the nearest American Job Center, help them identify job training opportunities, or lead them down the path to a high school equivalency diploma.