Employers in metropolitan Chattanooga added nearly 2,400 jobs last year to end 2012 with the lowest December jobless rate in five years.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Employment Security reported Thursday that unemployment in the six-county Chattanooga area last month was 7.2 percent, or 0.4 percent below both the comparable state and national rates for December.
Although the jobless rate last month was up from the November rate of only 6.4 percent, most of the change was from seasonal factors such as tourist attractions, manufacturers and schools reduced hiring at the end of the year.
Despite the seasonal upturn in December, unemployment was lower than year-ago levels throughout Tennessee and Georgia.
“After an extended period of uncertainty, it looks like jobs are being added again and people are more confident,” said David Penn, director of the Business and Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University. “With Congress seeming to be willing to back off major confrontations about fiscal matters, perhaps that will calm things down about hiring this year.”