DON FENLEY
Tri-Cities employers added 600 jobs in November and the unemployment rate increased a tenth of a point to 3.8%. The regional economy’s rebound from October’s payroll job losses was enough to mute some of the initial labor market effects of Hurricane Helene. Those effects will be more prevalent in later reports when things like the closure of Parkdale Mills in Mountain City and the fate of the firms in the Erwin Industrial Park take effect. Sunsetting of the $25 an hour storm disaster recovery jobs will also be a factor.
The way the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects and reports data is also an issue. For instance, to be counted as unemployed the jobless worker has to be actively looking for a job four weeks before the BLS takes its monthly survey. And that’s only one of the data issues.
The BLS payroll report offers an easier to digest explanation of the labor market, but it cuts off at the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) level. According to that report there were 211,600 jobs in the region’s two metro areas in Nov. That’s 3,400 more than Nov. last year.
Here is how the outcome of last month’s jobs gain/loss jobs churn looked.
Job gains
- Manufacturing – up 200
- Retail Trade – up 600
- Government – up 100
Job losses
- Professional and Business Services – down 100
- Leisure and Hospitality – down 200
WHO’S HIRING
There are 5,878 available jobs in NE TN, up from 5,557 last month, according to the Jobs4TN website. Firms with the largest number of openings are:
- Ballad Health – 739
- Food City – 321
- ETSU – 147
- Tacala, LLC – 119
- ColdStar International Corp. – 78
- Addus HomeCare, Inc – 76
- McDonalds Corp. – 73
- Eastman Chemical Co. – 55
- Source Medial, LLC – 55
INDUSTRIES WITH HIGHEST OPENINGS
- Health Care and Social Assistance – 3,472
- Retail Trade – 2,940
- Accommodation and Food Services – 1,721
- Administrative, Support, Waste Management, and Remediation Services – 1,216
- Professional, Scientific and Technical Services – 1,099
- Manufacturing – 289
- Education Service – 547
- Wholesale Trade – 272
- Finance and Insurance – 242
- Unclassified – 2,786
OCCUPATIONS WITH HIGHEST ESTIMATED WAGES
- Nurse Anesthetists – $207,208
- Family Medicine Physicians – $195,808
- Podiatrist – $190,986
- Medical Scientists, except epidemiologists – $160,657
- Chief executives – $155,719
- Dentist, general – $155,604
- Sales engineers – $145,733
- Administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers – $141,517
- Compensation and benefits managers – $141,043
- Architectural and engineering managers – $135,672
TOP OCCUPATIONS BY ADVERTISED JOB OPENINGS
- Registered Nurse – 427
- Retail Salesperson – 118
- Cashiers – 114
- Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses – 99
- General and Operations Managers – 89
- First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers -77
- First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Service workers 76
- Customer Service Representative 67
- Fast Food and Counter Workers – 64
- Physicians – 61
WAGES
The average regional hourly wage is $25.90 an hour, down from $27.95 last month.
Tennessee’s average hourly wage is $30.73 an hour, down from $32.08 last month.
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE
The NE Tenn. labor force participation rate was unchanged at 52.8% in the latest report.
The U.S. rate is 62.6% and it’s 59.3% in Tennessee.
Johnson Co. has the highest participation rate in NE TN at 55.6%. Greene Co. has the lowest current rate at 49.2%.
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