March unemployment
The jobless rate fell across all counties in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia during MarchTennessee* Franklin County, 5.2 percent, down 0.5 percent* Bradley County, 5.3 percent, down 0.6 percent* Hamilton County, 5,4 percent, down 0.4 percent* Coffee County, 5.6 percent, down 0.3 percent* Sequatchie County, 6.5 percent, down 0.4 percent* McMinn County, 6.6 percent, down 0.6 percent* Marion County, 6.9 percent, down 0.4 percent* Polk County, 7.0 percent, down 0.8 percent* Rhea County, 7.4 percent, down 0.6 percent* Bledsoe County, 7.7 percent, down 0.8 percent* Meigs County, 7.9 percent, down 0.8 percent* Grundy County, 8.4 percent, down 0.3 percent* Van Buren, 8.9 percent, down 1 percentGeorgia* Catoosa County, 5.4 percent, down 0.1 percent* Dade County, 5.5 percent, down 0.4 percent* Walker County, 6.1 percent, down 0.1 percent* Chattooga County, 6.4 percent, down 0.4 percent* Whitfield County, 6.7 percent, unchanged* Murray County, 7.7 percent, down 0.5 percentSources: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Georgia Department of Labor
The Great Recession pulled the rug out from the economy of the self-described Carpet Capital, eliminating one of every five jobs in metro Dalton and pushing the region's jobless rate in 2009 to a record high 14 percent.
"We hardly had any job listings during the recession and there were some tough times in Dalton," recalled Kimberlie Mason, CEO of Quality Staffing Inc., in Dalton.
But today, Mason's employment agency has a totally different problem. The 16-year business owner said Thursday that lately she has trouble getting enough workers to fill all of the jobs that have come back to Dalton during the recovery.
"The job market right now is wide open and our biggest challenge is finding enough people wanting to go to work to fill the job listings we have," she said.
Unemployment in metro Dalton fell during March to the lowest level in nearly seven years and only half the rate high reached during the housing slump. The Georgia Department of Labor said Thursday that Dalton added 4.6 percent more jobs in the past 12 months -- a growth pace twice as great as the country. That helped cut the jobless rate in Whitfield and Murray counties to an average 7 percent.
Dalton has added 3,000 jobs in the past year, although the 7 percent jobless rate for the area in March was still above the comparable, non-seasonally adjusted U.S. rate of 5.6 percent.
Last month's jobless rate in Dalton declined as floorcovering manufacturers and other employers created more jobs, Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a statement Thursday.
Dalton's employment total in March -- 56,982-- was still 9,416 jobs below the employment peak reached in metro Dalton before the recession in July 2006 when the metro jobless rate was only 4.5 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"But jobs are definitely coming back," Mason said.
Employment also is improving over the state line in Southeast Tennessee. In the 6-county Chattanooga metropolitan area, the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate matched the U.S. rate in March at 5.6 percent -- the lowest metro rate since May 2008.
Among Tennessee's major metro areas last month, unemployment was lowest in Nashville at 4.7 percent and highest in Memphis at 6.5 percent.
"We're seeing solid, across-the-board job gains and, barring some unforeseen event, we expect employment to continue to grow this year in Tennessee," said Dr. Bill Fox, director of the University of Tennessee's Center for Business and Economic Research.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.