Germantown’s jobless rate is now tied for the lowest in the state.
At 2.9 percent, the city reported 569 unemployed residents in February, according to the state’s Department of Labor.
Germantown and Franklin were tied for the lowest rates in Tennessee.
The rate has dropped since January but remains slightly up from a year ago.
The city has a reported workforce of 19,647, the 20th largest in the state among municipalities with a population of 25,000 or more. Nashville’s labor force is 400,888, making it the largest in Tennessee.
While rates are down more than 1 percentage point in Memphis, the city still has the highest unemployment rate in the state at 8.1 percent.
Bartlett’s rate is 3.6 percent, with 1,113 residents claiming unemployment in February.
Collierville’s rate of 3.1 percent was the second lowest in the state.
Shelby County’s rate is down to 6.8 percent.
Tennessee’s unemployment rate for February has reached near pre-pandemic levels.
February’s statewide, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 4.9 percent, which is just one percentage point higher than it was last February, 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 percent.
When compared to February’s nationwide seasonally adjusted rate of 6.2 percent, 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.
