That makes it unchanged from December’s jobless rate, which was revised down to 10.7 percent from an initially higher 10.9 percent. The January rate a year ago was 9.1 percent.
The national unemployment rate for January was 9.7 percent, down from the December rate of 10 percent.
“The state unemployment rate is holding steady for the month of January,” Labor Commissioner James Neeley said. “While the unemployment rate continues to be high in Tennessee, we did see a slight increase in employment and two of the three largest gains in employment were in the manufacturing industry.”
There was an increase of 3,400 people who were employed in January, with job gains occurring from December to January in plastic and rubber products manufacturing, fabricated metal products manufacturing and in the federal government. Jobs were lost in trade, transportation and utilities, in leisure and hospitality and in professional and business services.
Contact Bonna Johnson at 615-726-5990 or bjohnson@tennessean.com.
Construction Industry Continues to Lose Jobs as all States Report Decreases in 2009Year-end economic spurt shows signs of sputtering
