Unemployment in Tennessee rose last month to the highest level in more than 21 years, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development said today.

Tennessee’s unemployment rate for September was 7.2 percent, up 2.3 percent above the year-ago level of 4.9 percent.

Tennessee’s rate was the highest since March 1987 and was 1.1 percent above the comparable U.S. rate for September, state records show.

“The downturn in the national economy is affecting all states,” Tennessee Labor Commissioner James Neeley said today in a prepared statement. “Tennessee, like the rest of the nation, is experiencing job losses across all industries.

The business survey released today shows in the past year educational and health services added 6,100 jobs. But from September 2007 to September 2008, manufacturing was down by a net 10,000 jobs; professional and business services lost 6,800 jobs; and leisure and hospitality lost 5,700 jobs.