Jobless in February
Tennessee * Bradley, 4.6 percent, down 0.6 percent * Hamilton, 4.8 percent, down 0.7 percent * Coffee, 4.8 percent, down 0.8 percent * Franklin, 5.1 percent, down 0.9 percent * McMinn, 5.6 percent, down 0.8 percent * Polk, 5.8 percent, down 1 percent * Marion, 6.3 percent, down 1.5 percent * Sequatchie, 6.4 percent, down 0.5 percent * Grundy, 6.4 percent, down 1.2 percent * Meigs, 6.8 percent, down 0.9 percent * Bledsoe, 7.5 percent, down 1.3 percent * Rhea, 8.8 percent, down 1.4 percent Georgia * Catoosa, 4.6 percent, down 0.4 percent * Walker, 5 percent, down 0.4 percent * Dade, 5 percent, down 0.3 percent * Chattooga, 5.3 percent, down 0.4 percent * Gordon, 5.3 percent, down 0.9 percent * Whitfield, 5.8 percent, down 1.1 percent * Murray, 7 percent, down 0.8 percent Sources: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Georgia Department of Labor
Unemployment fell last month across Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia, but the jobless rate in Rhea County remained the highest of any of Tennessee’s 95 counties.
Unemployment in metropolitan Chattanooga fell by seven- tenths of a percentage point during February to 4.9 percent as employers in the six-county area added a net 2,400 jobs during February, according to new employment figures released Thursday. The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said February’s jobless rate in metro Chattanooga region matched the rate of a year ago, but remained above the U.S. jobless rate of 4.7 percent last month.
Over the past year, employers in metro Chattanooga added an estimated 4,660 jobs. But the labor force, which includes those on the job and those looking for work, grew even faster with the addition of 4,990 persons in the labor force over the past 12 months.
Metro Chattanooga includes Hamilton, Marion and Sequatchie counties in Tennessee and Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties in Northwest Georgia.