Chattanooga job gains outpace U.S. despite monthly rise in unemployment rate

Unemployment in Chattanooga edged higher last month as the end of the summer cut back some tourism-related jobs. But over the past year, local employers in the six-county metro area still added jobs at more than three times the U.S. rate.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development on Wednesday said the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in metropolitan Chattanooga rose by three tenths of a percent during October to 3.4 percent. Although an influx of workers into the labor market kept Chattanooga's jobless rate last month above the statewide average of 3 percent and higher than the metro unemployment rates in Nashville, Knoxville and Cleveland, the local jobless level was still below the comparable, non-seasonally adjusted U.S. rate of 3.9 percent last month.

In the past 12 months, employment grew in metro Chattanooga by a strong 4.1 percent, adding 10,290 more jobs in the six-county area. In neighboring metropolitan Cleveland, where the jobless rate rose from September's historic low but remained below 3 percent, employment in the past year grew a strong 3.6 percent, adding 2,060 jobs in Bradley and Polk counties over the past year.

"Tennessee's economy remains healthy and growing, and Southeast Tennessee is especially strong," said Bill Fox, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee.

Across Tennessee, October was the fifth consecutive month that Tennessee's statewide unemployment rate was in record territory, matching the all-time low of 3.0 percent set the month before.

"To have so many counties under 5.0 percent unemployment, as we head into the holiday season, is a good thing," Tennessee Labor Commissioner Burns Phillips said Wednesday in releasing the new jobs figures.

Despite the robust job gains in most counties, Rhea County's employment has been basically flat over the past 12 months and unemployment in Rhea County remained the highest among Tennessee's 95 counties last month at 5.4 percent, up from 4.8 percent the previous month.

The statewide unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted, while the county rates are not. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that eliminates the influences of weather, holidays, the opening and closing of schools and other recurring seasonal events from an economic time series.

Unemployment is expected to drop once again this month and next as retailers and e-commerce companies gear up for the traditionally busy Christmas season.

Amazon.com, which operates fulfillment centers in Chattanooga and Charleston, Tenn., nearly doubles its warehouse workforce for the holidays, adding 120,000 jobs nationwide. The local warehouses are expected to add several thousand more workers, temporarily making Amazon the biggest employer in the region during the next month.

Despite rising online competition from Amazon and other e-commerce providers, brick-and-mortar stores are still adding to their staffs at the holidays. Target, which operates stores in Hixson and East Brainerd, said it planned to hire about 100,000 extra seasonal workers for the holidays, or 30,000 more than in 2016. Even struggling retailers like Toy R Us, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, said it is adding hundreds of more employees during the holiday season.

"For nearly all employers, one of the biggest challenges today is finding enough qualified workers to fill job vacancies or to expand hiring," said Doug Berry, vice president of economic development at the Cleveland/Bradley County Chamber of Commerce.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.