Tennessee employers added nearly 25,000 new jobs between September and October. Even with the creation of new jobs, the state’s unemployment rate inched upward for the first time in three months.
The preliminary, seasonally adjusted, statewide unemployment rate for October 2020 is 7.4 percent, an increase of 0.9 of a percentage point from September’s revised rate of 6.5 percent.
One year ago, the unemployment rate in Tennessee was 3.3 percent.
The number of jobs increased by 24,600 during the month as Tennessee businesses rebound from COVID-19 business closures in the spring.
Employers in the professional/business services sector created the most jobs during the month. The leisure/hospitality and manufacturing sectors experienced the next largest increases in employment.
While employment increased month-to-month, the year-to-year comparison showed a decrease of 108,800 jobs across the state. The largest decreases occurred in the leisure/hospitality sector, along with the manufacturing and government sectors.
A complete analysis of the October 2020 employment data, along with specific occupation data, is available
here.
Nationally, unemployment decreased from September’s revised rate of 7.9 percent to 6.9 percent in October. The U.S. rate is 3.3 percentage points higher than it was in October 2019.
The Reemploy Tennessee initiative can match job seekers with employers across the state. Jobs4TN.gov, Tennessee’s workforce development website, currently has more than 240,000 open positions for job seekers of any skill level.
Besides current job openings, Jobs4TN.gov also provides online assistance with writing a resume that will catch the attention of employers, advice on how to engage and impress during job interviews, and details about potential job training opportunities.
The more than 80 American Job Centers across Tennessee are open for business and offering job seekers one-on-one personalized assistance. Career specialists are ready to work with individuals to devise a reemployment plan that will help them rejoin the state’s workforce.
All the assistance is free to anyone who needs help finding a new job or career path.
The state of Tennessee will release county unemployment data for October on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 1:30 p.m. CT.