Recovery Summer and Stimulus: Tennessee

Continuing on the Recovery Summer and Stimulus: State by State, we head to Tennessee.

Quick Tennessee facts:

• In January of 2009, the unemployment rate in Tennessee was 9.1%. As of July 31, 2010, the unemployment rate was 9.7% (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• According to Recovery.gov, Tennessee has received 5,170 awards. This has resulted in $4,850,294,761 being spent to create/save 15,390.70* jobs (Source: Recovery.gov)
• As of July 2010, the labor force in Tennessee shrunk by 20,136 people since January of 2009. While the labor force has decreased, the unemployment rate has increased. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• According to the Recovery Summer Map, Tennessee boasts 3 “Summer of Recovery” projects.
• The number of people employed in Tennessee has fallen by 39,150 people since January of 2009! (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• The Obama administration projected the change in jobs by December 31, 2010 to be +70,000 jobs. To date, Tennessee has lost 69,700 jobs. (Source: Ways & Means Republicans)

The employment trend in Tennessee has been good for the better part of 2010. While 2009 was a rough year, 2010 has been a year of “recovery”. While on might claim that the nearly $5 billion in “stimulus” money helped create such a recovery, other states that have received much more “stimulus” have not had the same results. As 2010 contnues forward, so does a brighter employment situation in Tennessee. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)