Kentucky Sets Record for Longest Period With Lowest Unemployment Rates in State History

Friday, April 21, 2023 at 8:35 AM

Unemployment rates have been strong the past 15 months in Kentucky.

(Frankfort, Ky.) – Governor Andy Beshear announced Thursday that Kentucky has set the record for the longest period with the lowest unemployment rates in state history.

Over the past 15 months, the rate has been between 3.8 percent, the lowest rate ever recorded, and 4.0 percent.

Kentucky has now achieved a 3.8 percent unemployment rate during four months since the beginning of 2022. The state has also seen a 2.3 percent job growth over pre-pandemic levels with nearly 46,000 more jobs in Kentucky than in February 2020.

“We have been consistently at or below the lowest unemployment rates in Kentucky’s history since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking it in 1976,” Gov. Beshear said. “Kentucky is emerging as a top 10 economy, and I want to thank our hard-working Kentucky families and all of the businesses that are betting their futures on our great state. Today’s news is more proof of what can achieve when we all work together on Team Kentucky.”

According to the Kentucky Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), an agency within the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet (KELC), the preliminary March 2023 jobless rate was down 0.1 percentage points from February 2023 and was unchanged from the 3.8 percent recorded for the state one year ago.