Tennessee’s unemployment rate dropped substantially last month, falling to the lowest level since December 2008. The state labor department announced Thursday unemployment stands at 8.7 percent.
Tennessee’s jobless rate is still slightly higher than the national figure of 8.5 percent, but UT economist Bill Fox says the state had stronger job growth than the country as a whole during the period. The state labor commissioner says from November to December, more than 11,000 people found jobs.
Still, though, nearly 270,000 Tennesseans are out of work, including Ray Age of Nashville. He lost his construction job in 2009. But he says the falling unemployment rate is encouraging.
“The employment market is going to turnaround. It has to.”
Age says he needs the turnaround to come sooner than later. He’s already 62 years old.
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