Chattanooga jobless rate falls below 5 percent in February

Despite drop, Rhea County has highest unemployment rate in Tennessee

March 30, 2017 at 5:34 p.m. | Updated March 30, 2017 at 5:36 p.m.

by Dave Flessner

FILE - This April 22, 2014, file photo shows an employment application form on a table at a job fair in Hudson, N.Y. Middle-age white Americans with limited education are increasingly dying younger, on average, than other middle-age U.S. adults, a trend driven by their dwindling economic opportunities, research by two Princeton University economists has found. The economists, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, argue in a paper released Thursday, March 23, 2017, that the loss of steady middle-income jobs for those with high school degrees or less has triggered broad problems for this group. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)
FILE - This April 22, 2014, file photo shows an employment application form on a table at a job fair in Hudson, N.Y. Middle-age white Americans with limited education are increasingly dying younger, on average, than other middle-age U.S. adults, a trend driven by their dwindling economic opportunities, research by two Princeton University economists has found. The economists, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, argue in a paper released Thursday, March 23, 2017, that the loss of steady middle-income jobs for those with high school degrees or less has triggered broad problems for this group. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)

Unemployment in metropolitan Chattanooga fell below 5 percent again last month as employers in the 6-county area added a net 2,400 jobs during February, according to new employment figures released today.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said today that the jobless rate in metro Chattanooga fell by seven-tenths of a percentage point last month to 4.9 percent. February's jobless rate in the Chattanooga region matched the rate of a year ago, but remained above the U.S. jobless rate of 4.7 percent last month.

Over the past year, employers in metro Chattanooga added an estimated 4,660 jobs. But the labor force, which includes those working and those looking for work, grew even faster with the addition of 4,990 persons in the labor force over the past 12 months.

Metro Chattanooga includes Hamilton, Marion and Sequatchie counties in Tennessee and Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties in Northwest Georgia.

In metro Cleveland, which includes Bradley and Polk counties, the jobless rate also fell by seven-tenths of a percentage point to 4.7 percent last month, matching the U.S. rate.

Dalton's jobless rate declined a full percentage point to 6.1 percent but remained one of the highest of any metro area in Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama.

Unemployment in the Chattanooga region was lowest in Bradley County in Tennessee and Catoosa County in Georgia, which both had a jobless rat of 4.6 percent. Unemployment in the area was highest at 8.8 percent in Rhea County, which also had the highest unemployment rate of any county in Tennessee.

The lowest unemployment rate in Tennessee last month was in the Nashville suburb of Williamson County, where the jobless rate fell to 3.5 percent in February.

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