September unemployment

September's unemployment rate in Tennessee was found to be just 3 percentage points higher than March's pre-pandemic rate of 3.3%.

 Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development

The unemployment for the month of September in Tennessee was reported on Thursday to have dropped to 6.3 percent, down 2.3 percentage points from August's rate of 8.6 percent.

The new unemployment rate shows a drastic improvement over August's rate of 15.5 percent, and is just 3 percentage points higher than March's pre-pandemic rate of 3.3 percent.

Between August and September, just over 11,000 new nonfarm jobs were created in the state, with the leisure and hospitality sector being responsible for the largest number of new hires in September. The second-largest increase in the number of new nonfarm jobs in September came from the manufacturing sector, followed by the education and health services sectors.

The United States as a whole saw a similar trend, though not as drastic. In September, the U.S. unemployment rate was found to be 7.9 percent, down .5 percentage points from August's rate of 8.4 percent. The unemployment rate in the U.S. in March was 4.5 percent.

Unemployed Tennesseans can find free job search assistance and career development opportunities at any of the more than 80 American Job Centers across the state. Tennesseans can find the center nearest to them through this interactive map. Online, more than 200,000 active job listings are currently available on the state’s workforce development website.