by Jon Styf
Tennessee’s March unemployment rate of 3.2% was the lowest ever recorded, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
The 3.2% was a seasonally adjusted rate that surpassed the previous low mark of 3.3% in August 2019. The 3.2% rate is 1.7 percentage points lower than March 2021.
The all-time mark comes 23 months after the state recorded its all-time high of a 15.9% unemployment rate in April 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted civilian workforce of 3,370,618 with 3,261,531 total employed in March were also all-time highs.
That was an increase of 124,800 jobs from March 2021.
In all, nonfarm employment increased by 8,100 jobs from February to March.
Nationally, unemployment also dropped in March. The seasonally adjusted rate for the United States decreased by 0.2 of a percentage point to 3.6% in March, which is a rate that decreased 2.4 percentage points from the same time last year.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for The Center Square, Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
