In a show of strength for the Tennessee economy, new business filings in the state increased by more than 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a new Associated Press report.
“A news release from Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office Thursday says this was the fourth-straight quarter in which new business filings jumped by more than 10 percent in Tennessee,” according to the Associated Press.
“The Tennessee Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report documented about 9,800 new entity filings in the fourth quarter of 2018. It says a total of about 42,900 new business entity filings were processed with the secretary of state’s Division of Business Services last year.”
Hargett’s office reported 29 consecutive quarters of positive annual growth in new business filings, according to the report.
According to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website, during this same period, the number of initial trademark registrations shrank while dissolutions and initial assumed name registrations grew.
“Compared to the previous quarter, new entity filings have fallen by 8.1 percent, and annual reports are down 43.0 percent. However, this is a common seasonal pattern, as third quarter filings and renewals typically outpace those in the fourth quarter,” the website said.
“For this reason, we largely focus on year-over-year growth rates.”
One year prior, in 2017, Tennessee recorded 38,137 new entity filings and 225,454 annual reports, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
The news about Tennessee coincided with good news about the national economy.
Job growth in January shattered expectations, with nonfarm payrolls surging by 304,000, the Labor Department reported, according to CNBC.
Economists had initially expected payrolls to rise by 170,000.
All this, despite January’s federal government shutdown, the longest in history.
“The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4 percent, a level where it had last been in June, a likely effect of the shutdown, according to the department,” CNBC reported.
“However, officials said federal workers generally were counted as employed during the period because they received pay during the survey week of Jan. 12. On balance, federal government employment actually rose by 1,000.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
