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

FILE - In this April 22, 2015, file photo, a recruiter, left, shakes hands with a job seeker during a National Career Fairs job fair in Chicago. On Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017, the U.S. Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits the week before. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
FILE - In this April 22, 2015, file photo, a recruiter, left, shakes hands with a job seeker during a National Career Fairs job fair in Chicago. On Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017, the U.S. Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits the week before. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File) FILE - In this April 22, 2015, file photo, a recruiter, left, shakes hands with a job seeker during a National Career Fairs job fair in Chicago. On Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017, the U.S. Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits the week before. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

By Dave Flessner 4 min read

Jobless in October

The unemployment rate rose last month in most area counties due to seasonal factors.› Bradley County, 2.9 percent, up 0.2 percent› Hamilton County, 3.0 percent, up 0.2 percent› Coffee County, 3.0 percent, up 0.2 percent› Franklin County, 3.0 percent, up 0.2 percent› Bledsoe County, 3.2 percent, unchanged› Van Buren County, 3.5 percent, up 0.1 percent› McMinn County, 3.6 percent, up 0.3 percent› Polk County, 3.6 percent, up 0.3 percent› Grundy County, 4.0 percent, up 0.1 percent› Marion County, 4.1 percent, up 0.3 percent› Sequatchie County, 4.2 percent, up 0.3 percent› Rhea County, 5.4 percent, up 0.6 percent› Meigs County, 4.1 percent, up 0.2 percentSource: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development

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.