Chattanooga's jobless rate remained unchanged and below the U.S. average again last month, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported today.
But unemployment in the neighboring metropolitan Cleveland and Dalton, Ga. rose during May above the national average, state figures show.
In the six-county Chattanooga metro area, unemployment in May was unchanged at 8.4 percent. Nationwide, the jobless rate rose 0.1 percent to 9.1 percent.
In metro Cleveland, the jobless rate edged up by 0.1 percent last month to 9.5 percent. In the Dalton area, May's jobless rate averaged 11.1 percent, up from 11 percent in April.
Among Georgia's 14 metropolitan areas, Dalton continued to have the highest jobless rate last month. Unemployment was lowest in metro Athens, where unemployment was 7.2 percent.
In Tennessee, the lowest metro jobless rate was in metro Knoxville at 7.7 percent.