As the area saw a yearly decrease in employment during February, Nashville construction jobs were hit the hardest over the year.

Although the Nashville area's February unemployment rate has not yet been released, Tennessee's rate remained at 10.7 percent for the fourth consecutive month in a row, which is above the national rate of 9.7 percent. Nashville had an unemployment rate of 10 percent during January.

The Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin area had a total non-farm employment of 708,200 workers during February, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 706,500 workers during January, but a 3 percent decrease from last year.

Six industries managed to see a monthly increase in employment during February, including: financial activities by 200 jobs; professional and business services by 100 jobs; education and health services by 800 jobs; leisure and hospitality by 300 jobs; other services by 300 jobs; and government by 1,800 jobs.

Employment in the information industry remained even over the month with 20,000 jobs. However, only one industry managed to see a yearly increase in employment.

The education and health services industry employed 116,000 workers during February, up from 115,200 workers during January and a 1.8 percent increase from February 2009.

The mining, logging and construction industry took the biggest hit when compared to last year. The industry employed 27,700 workers during February, down from 28,200 workers during January and a 15.3 percent decrease from last year.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include:

• manufacturing by 9.5 percent
• trade, transportation and utilities by 4.3 percent
• information by 3.4 percent
• financial activities by 1.6 percent
• professional and business services by 3.8 percent
• leisure and hospitality by .9 percent
• other services by 1.3 percent
• government by .2 percent

Labels: Nashville construction jobs