After two months of rising unemployment, Chattanooga's jobless rate fell again last month by six tenths of a percentage point to 5.7 percent.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development estimates employers in metropolitan Chattanooga added 6,764 jobs over the past year, cutting the jobless rate by 1.4 percentage points in the 12 months ending in August.
Chattanooga's non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate last month was a tenth of a percentage point below the statewide average of 5.8 percent but above the comparable U.S. rate of 5.2 percent last month. Metro Chattanooga includes three counties in Southeast Tennessee and three counties in Northwest Georgia.
Unemployment in metropolitan Cleveland, which includes Bradley and Polk counties, fell by eight tenths of a percent to 5.7 percent. The jjobless rate dropped a full percentage point in metropolitan Dalton, which includes Whitfield and Murray counties, to 6.3 percent.
Among Tennessee's major metro areas, unemployment in August was lowest in Nashville at 4.7 percent and highest in Johnson City at 5.8 percent.