David Eichenthal

Hamilton County accounted for more than 80 percent of job growth in a six-county region in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia, according to a report released Tuesday by the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies.

The report, which focuses on the regional economy of Hamilton, Sequatchie and Marion counties in Tennessee and Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties in Georgia, indicates that the number of jobs grew 3.2 percent in the six-county region.

David Eichenthal, president and chief executive of the Ochs Center, said the report covers 2001 to 2007 and does not take into account a $1 billion Volkswagen plant being built at Enterprise South, nor does it include information regarding the recent economic downturn.

“Place really matters,” Mr. Eichenthal said. “Place matters when it comes to the economy because what we describe in this report is very much of a regional economy, an economy for the six-county metropolitan statistical area that crosses the Tennessee-Georgia line but is centered in Hamilton County.”

The report indicates that 81.6 percent of new jobs in the region are in Hamilton County.

Mr. Eichenthal said that Sequatchie County is seeing the fastest job growth in the region at 15.8 percent, but it amounts to only a few jobs.

“Still, when you look at the actual number of jobs, most of the new jobs being created are being created in Hamilton County,” Mr. Eichenthal said.

Dr. Bill Tharp, a policy analyst at the Ochs Center, said it is difficult to say exactly where Sequatchie County’s rapid growth is coming from.

“We didn’t look at that by sector in the smaller counties,” Dr. Tharp said. “There is a problem in the smaller counties with data disclosure. If the numbers are not sufficient they don’t disclose it so as not to identify any particular firms.”

The fastest growing jobs in the region include the information sector, which grew 37.3 percent, and health care, which grew 22.9 percent, the report shows.

The biggest losers in the region are manufacturing, which dropped 15.4 percent, and retail trade, which lost 8.7 percent of jobs, according to the report.

Mr. Eichenthal said that, although the report does not include data regarding the Volkswagen announcement nor job loss attributed to the recession, the report still provides useful information.

“It helps to explain how we got to where we are right now,” he said.