Unemployment rose last month in metropolitan Chattanooga as seasonal increases in summertime job seekers swelled the labor market and offset a net gain of 650 jobs in the area during May.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said today that the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in metropolitan Chattanooga rose by six tenths of a percentage point to 5.6 percent. The increase reversed a steady decline in Chattanooga's joblessness so far this year. But most of the increase was due to seasonal factors.
Chattanooga's jobless rate in May was slightly below the comparable statewide average rate of 5.7 percent for Tennessee but above the non-seasonally adjusted U.S. unemployment rate of 5.3 percent last month.
Chattanooga's employment rose by 650 jobs last month and by 19,140 jobs over the past year. But the number of unemployed rose in May by an even bigger 1,460 persons, although the jobless rolls in Chattanooga last month were still 1,340 below the year ago level when unemployment averaged 6.4 percent.
Across Southeast Tennessee, unemployment was lowest in Franklin County at 5.2 percent and highest in Meigs County at 7.5 percent. Hamilton County's jobless rate last month increased by six tenths of a percentage point to 5.5 percent.
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