September Unemployment• Metropolitan Chattanooga, 8.7 percent, down 0.1 percent• Metropolitan Cleveland, Tenn., 9.8 percent, unchanged• Metropolitan Dalton, Ga., 12.5 percent, up 0.4 percentSources: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Georgia Department of Labor
Employers in metropolitan Chattanooga added more than 3,700 jobs over the past year, but the number of job applicants increased by nearly 5,500 to keep the local jobless rate above the year-ago level.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported Thursday that unemployment in metro Chattanooga last month was down 0.1 percent from the previous month at 8.7 percent. A year ago, Chattanooga’s jobless rate was only 8.2 percent.
“I definitely think the job market is getting better in Chattanooga, but it’s still very competitive to get hired,” said Ben Howard, a 28-year-old unemployed electrician who was searching for a job Thursday at the Tennessee Career Center. “I’ve been laid off three times in the past three years, so I’m just trying to get a steadier job.”
With more applicants than jobs, unemployed people without skills or who have a criminal record are having greater problems finding jobs.