MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce announced that the Memphis job growth outpaced the US national job growth rate in its pandemic recovery.

After a small contraction in the job markets in May 2022, the Greater Memphis region set an all-time record high with 661,700 jobs.

The Chamber also noted that the Greater Memphis area recovered all jobs lost during the pandemic and even added 3800 more jobs than before the start of the pandemic in February 2020.

The Greater Memphis area added 1,900 jobs in June – a 0.25% increase from May.

“The Greater Memphis economy is on an upward trajectory, and we expect our strong job growth to accelerate as companies begin following through on last year’s record level of job commitments,” Chief Economic Development Officer Ted Townsend said.

The State of Tennessee has set another employment record with over 3.2 million jobs reported in June. That’s an increase of more than 93,400 jobs since February 2020.

Construction led the way for Greater Memphis job growth in June. The Chamber said these numbers indicate the local economy shows strong signs of recovering from the pandemic.

“The job growth across Greater Memphis is great news for small businesses, which account for the vast majority of jobs locally and nationally. Almost every company is staffing up; the challenge is retaining employees,” co-chair of the Small Business Council Dotty Summerfield Giusti said. “Small businesses must constantly focus on engaging their employees as they reinvent themselves if they want to remain competitive.”

After suffering significant losses, the tourism and hospitality industries are coming back to life in the Greater Memphis area. With a 36.75% decrease in employment in those industries, the June report shows a serious comeback. In June 2022, the decrease was down nearly 3% of pre-pandemic job totals.

Education and Health also saw job losses. According to the Chamber, total number of jobs were nearly 6% below pre-pandemic levels.