Governor Bill Haslam says he wants to “pinpoint” why unemployment has been getting worse in Tennessee the last couple months. The national unemployment rate went the other way last week, improving to 7.8 percent, even as workers got more hours and better wages.
Earlier this year the unemployment picture in Tennessee looked better than the national average – but not for July and August. Haslam says he’s been trying to figure out why, in talks with economists and state development officials.
One factor might be the precarious economy in Europe, where car sales have slumped. Haslam notes many jobs in Tennessee depend on the car industry.
“We actually do – there’s some automotive parts that we do export to Europe. I think I’ve had a couple people with UT’s economics group say they think there might be some connection. At this point in time we’re trying to go back and track that. We’ve really had two months that weren’t as good as we thought they might be, and we really don’t know about this one yet.”
Haslam says he’s hoping to see Tennessee follow the national improvement when the state releases its own unemployment numbers later this month.
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