Tagged: Unemployment

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — Good news on the jobs front as Tennessee’s March unemployment rate dipped just below 8 percent.

Jeff Hentschell with the Tennessee Department of Labor says the rate fell a tenth of a point to 7.9 percent. It was the eighth straight month of decline, and the rate is at its lowest level since November 2008.

Hentschell says Tennessee’s unemployment numbers are getting a boost from two surprising sectors.

“The number of jobs in construction over the winter was impressive. We don’t normally see growth in construction. We don’t normally see growth in manufacturing. This month we saw 1400 jobs created in manufacturing.”

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) – WMOT News is looking at sectors of the Tennessee economy that have prospered in hard times in a series of stories we’re calling "Tennessee Works."

Tennessee’s unemployment rate peaked in June of 2009 at 10.8 percent. Joblessness has fallen slowly in the months since, but is still uncomfortably high at eight percent.

There are some professions, though, that enjoyed low unemployment even at the height of the great recession.

Bill Wood is President of Wood Personnel Services, one of Middle Tennessee’s largest employment agencies.  Wood says local employers are always clamoring for more IT workers.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  There are indications that construction in Tennessee is starting to rebound.

Unemployment in the construction trades fell in the state by an average of more than nine percent per month over the winter.

Bill Young is a spokesman for the 600 member Associated General Contractors of Tennessee.  He says the AGC’s member companies are now reporting an improved business climate.

“Those numbers of projects that have been bidding across the State of Tennessee have increase…I won’t say “significantly,” but it is a much better forecast than it was two years ago. The indicators are that we’re somewhere between eight and ten increase in the number construction workers on projects in Tennessee.”

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  Williamson County had the hottest jobs market in the country last year.

A report just out by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Williamson County posted the nation’s largest employment increase with a gain of 5.4 percent between September 2010 and September 2011. The average jobs growth in the country during the period was just 1.6 percent.

The report says the largest employment increase in Williamson County occurred in the category “professional and business services,” which gained more than 1,700 jobs.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  The Tennessee Department of Labor has released its county-by-county look at unemployment for December.

Middle Tennessee’s overall jobless rate fell to 6.9 percent in December, down three-tenths from the November rate and down a full percentage point from December 2010.

Williamson County has the region’s lowest unemployment rate at 5.4 percent in December. Hickman County has the worst joblessness at 9.8 percent. Hickman and Trousdale were the only counties in the mid-state to see unemployment rise between November and December.

Year-over-year, Cheatham and Trousdale Counties have seen the biggest drop in its jobless rate, falling 1.4 percent since December 2010.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — The company that owns and operates Food Lion grocery stores is closing 25 groceries in Tennessee idling about 1,100 workers. The company is also reducing operations at a distribution center in Clinton near Knoxville.

Food Lion spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown says a severance package is being offered to eligible employees affected by the parent company's decision to close underperforming stores.

Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize says it’s cutting almost 5,000 jobs in the United States as it closes Food Lion, Bloom and Bottom Dollar Food stores within the next 30 days.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) – More than a thousand Middle Tennessee residents lined up in the cold for hours over the weekend to apply for a job at the Smyrna Nissan plant.

Yates Services hosted the job fair at the State Career Center in Murfreesboro on Saturday.

Tennessee Department of Labor area manager R.J. Sherr says all the jobs are assembly line positions on third shift that pay between $12.50 and $18.50 an hour.

"If for some reasons somebody was not able to attend the event on Saturday they can go to their nearest Tennessee Career Center from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; come in and let them know that they're interested in the Yates position over at the Nissan plant in Smyrna and we can get them set up as well."