Jobless in September
Tennessee counties:* Franklin, 5.2 percent, down 0.1 percent* Bradley, 5.6 percent, unchanged* Hamilton, 5.6 percent, down 0.1 percent* McMinn, 6.5 percent, down 0.1 percent* Polk, 6.6 percent, unchanged* Marion, 6.8 percent, down 0.1 percent* Sequatchie, 6.9 percent, unchanged* Bledsoe, 7.3 percent, up 0.2 percent* Grundy, 7.3 percent, up 0.1 percent* Meigs, 7.4 percent, unchanged* Rhea, 7.5 percent, down 0.3 percentGeorgia counties:* Catoosa, 5 percent, down 0.2 percent* Dade, 5.5 percent, down 0.2 percent* Walker, 5.5 percent, down 0.3 percent* Whitfield, 5.8 percent, down 0.2 percent* Chattooga, 5.9 percent, down 0.2 percent* Murray, 7 percent, down 0.2 percentSources: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Georgia Department of Labor
Employers in metropolitan Chattanooga added 5,000 jobs over the past year, cutting unemployment in the six-county region to 5.6 percent.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday the jobless rate in metro Chattanooga fell by one-tenth of a percentage point during September to 5.6 percent. Chattanooga’s jobless rate has generally trended down over the past couple of years, although it was lower in April at 5.1 percent.
Metro Chattanooga, which represents the economic area where most people work and shop in the same region, includes Hamilton, Marion and Sequatchie counties in Tennessee and Catoosa, Walker and Dade counties in Georgia.
Metropolitan Dalton, Ga., the self-described Carpet Capital because of the dominance of its floorcovering manufacturing, reported a jobless rate last month of 6.1 percent. That was the lowest rate in the Dalton area in nearly eight years.