Unemployment in metropolitan Chattanooga declined by 0.2 percent last month to 8.3 percent, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported today.
In the six-county Chattanooga area, 8,400 new jobs were added over the past year. December’s jobless rate for metro Chattanooga was down from 10 percent at the beginning of the year and 9.2 percent a year ago.
Chattanooga’s jobless rate last month remained below the comparable, nonseasonally adjusted 9.1 percent rate for both Tennessee and the United States in December.
Unemployment in Southeast Tennessee was lowest in Hamilton County, where the jobless rate fell in December to a 2-year low of 7.7 percent.
Among Tennessee’s 95 counties, only 10 counties surrounding Nashville and Knoxville had lower jobless rates than Hamilton County in December.
Read more in Friday’s Times Free Press