Business Closures at the End of March not Included in State's Overall Rate for the Month

Despite the current spike in unemployment across Tennessee, March's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remains relatively unchanged, only increasing 0.1 of a percentage point to 3.5%.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development did not begin to see an unprecedented increase in unemployment claims until the third and fourth weeks of March.

The survey the federal government conducts to determine the number of unemployed workers in each state took place in Tennessee between March 8 and 14. This explains why the current unemployment rate does not reflect the struggle many Tennesseans are currently facing.

Nationally, unemployment increases nearly a percentage point in March. The seasonally adjusted rate for the United States is up by 0.9 of a percentage point to 4.4%, when comparing it to February's rate of 3.5%.

A complete analysis of the March 2020 statewide unemployment data is available here.

The state of Tennessee releases the county unemployment rates for March 2020 on Thursday, April 23, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. CT. The statewide unemployment rate for April 2020 will come out on May 21, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. CT.