Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · TN NONMETROPOLITAN AREA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
Tennessee statewide unemployment steady at 3.4% in August 2026
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development — State labor force statistics release
This Month's Takeaways
National nonfarm payrolls added 29,000 jobs in September, below 45,000 average
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National employment situation report
National wage growth slowed to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Average hourly earnings and CPI data
Local Economic Conditions
March 2026 nonmetro unemployment rates for Athens, Greeneville, Newport micropolitan areas
Bureau of Labor Statistics — County/micropolitan unemployment data
Skilled-trades scarcity index at 76/100 with 7-9% wage growth
WIL Institute Observatory — Q2 2026 constrained-trades index
Tennessee manufacturing employment contracted slightly in 2026
Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research — Tennessee economic outlook analysis
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison