Unemployment rises in January in most area counties

FILE - In this Thursday March 13, 2014, file photo, job seekers attend a marijuana industry job fair hosted by Open Vape, a vaporizer company, in Downtown Denver. Unemployment rates fell in 31 U.S. states in September 2014, including many currently embroiled in tough political campaigns. Colorado’s rate fell to 4.7 percent from 5.1 percent. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File) FILE - In this Thursday March 13, 2014, file photo, job seekers attend a marijuana industry job fair hosted by Open Vape, a vaporizer company, in Downtown Denver. Unemployment rates fell in 31 U.S. states in September 2014, including many currently embroiled in tough political campaigns. Colorado’s rate fell to 4.7 percent from 5.1 percent. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

By Staff Report March 13, 2015 3 min read

FILE – In this Sept. 3, 2014, file photo, people sign up for unemployment and other benefits in Atlantic City, N.J. The U.S. Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits during the last full week of 2014, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

Jobless in January

Unemployment rose in most area counties during January: * Catoosa, 5,8 percent, up 0.3 percent * Dade, 5.9 percent, up 0.2 percent * Franklin, 6.4 percent, up 1 percent * Walker, 6.4 percent, down from 0.1 percent * Hamilton, 6.6 percent, up 0.9 percent * Bradley, 6.6 percent, up 1 percent * Coffee, 6.7 percent, up 1 percent * Chattooga, 6.9 percent, up 0.8 percent * Polk, 7.1 percent, down 0.1 percent * Whitfield, 7.7 percent, up 0.8 percent * McMinn, 8 percent, up 1 percent * Sequatchie, 8 percent, up 1.2 percent * Marion, 8.1 percent, up 1 percent * Polk, 8.6 percent, up 1.2 percent * Murray, 8.8 percent, up 0.7 percent * Rhea, 8.9 percent, up 1 percent * Bledsoe, 9.5 percent, up 1.3 percent * Meigs, 9.6 percent, up 1.5 percent * Cumberland, 9.9 percent, up 1.5 percent * Grundy, 10 percent, up 0.9 percent * Van Buren, 11.5 percent, up 2.2 percent Source: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Georgia Department of Labor

Unemployment rose during January in 19 of the 21 counties in the Chattanooga area as holiday jobs and temporary factory layoffs pushed up the jobless rates from December.

But the new year began with lower unemployment rates than a year ago across all of Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia.

The Tennessee and Georgia agencies that compile local jobless rates estimate that the jobless rates in the region varied in January from 5.8 percent in the North Georgia bedroom community of Catoosa County up to 11.5 percent in rural Van Buren county on the Cumberland Plateau.

In the six-county metropolitan Chattanooga area, unemployment rose seven-tenths of a percent in January to 6.6 percent, accordng to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The number of unemployed persons in the metro Chattanooga region increased at the start of 2015 by 1,890 from December 2014 to January 2015. But employment also rose in January despite cutbacks in holiday-related jobs.