Unemployment in the Chattanooga area last month fell to the lowest rate for August on record as employers in the 6-county area added more than 7,400 jobs over the past year.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday that the jobless rate in metropolitan Chattanooga fell by six-tenths of a percentage point during August to 3.4%. Unemployment also declined by a full percentage point in metro Cleveland, Tennessee to 3.8% and dropped by two tenths of a percentage point in metro Dalton to 4.3%.
“In this economy, pretty much everyone who wants to work has a job,” said Mark Campbell the owner of Manpower staffing offices in Chattanooga, Cleveland and Athens, Tennessee. “I’ve been in this business for 27 years and I’ve never seen it this way before. There is a lot of demand for workers right now and I don’t see that subsiding anytime soon.”
The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was lower in Chattanooga, Cleveland and Dalton, Georgia this spring when the labor force was also smaller. But employment rose again last month to record highs and remained below the comparable non-seasonally adjusted U.S. rate of 3.8%.
Over the past 12 months in the Chattanooga area, employment grew by nearly 2.9%, or nearly double the nationwide average growth rate.