Tennessee’s unemployment rate for February 2021 has reached near pre-pandemic levels, according to data released by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
February’s statewide, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 4.9%, which is just one percentage point higher than it was in February 2020, one month before the COVID-19 health crisis created an economic slowdown across Tennessee.
Overall, unemployment in Tennessee is down 0.2 of a percentage point from January’s revised rate of 5.1%.
When compared to February’s nationwide seasonally adjusted rate of 6.2%, unemployment in Tennessee is 1.3 percentage points lower than the national average.
Total nonfarm employment in the state increased by 6,300 jobs between January and February. The professional/business services sector saw the most growth, followed by the leisure/hospitality and education/health services sectors.
In a year-to-year comparison, the pandemic’s impact on employment is evident. Between February 2020 and February 2021, Tennessee experienced a decrease of 118,600 jobs across the state.
The national unemployment rate for February is down 0.1 of a percentage point from January but still represents a 2.7 percentage point increase when compared to the February 2020 number.
TDLWD has compiled a complete analysis of February’s unemployment and jobs data which is available here.
Job seekers across the state will find more than 220,000 job postings on Tennessee’s workforce development website, Jobs4TN.gov. These jobs span a wide range of skill levels and occupations.
The Tennessee Virtual American Job Center (VAJC) website, located at www.TNVirtualAJC.com, allows Tennesseans to research different programs, from different state agencies that can help them remove barriers to employment so they can more easily reenter Tennessee’s workforce. The VAJC allows job seekers to do this on their schedule, anytime, anywhere.
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