Unemployment in the Chattanooga area dipped another two-tenths of a percent last month to 3.7 percent, or seven-tenths of a percent below the comparable, non-seasonally adjusted U.S. rate of 4.4 percent.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday that 262,400 Chattanoogans were employed during February, up 4.6 percent from a year earlier when 250,721 workers were on the job in the six-county Chattanooga metro area.
The jobless rate also fell last month by a tenth of a percent in neighboring metro Cleveland to 3.7 percent and fell by a strong
1.2 percentage points in February in metro Dalton to 5.5 percent.
Across the Chattanooga region, the jobless rate fell in most counties and rose only in Dade County in Northwest Georgia.
Sixty-nine of Tennessee’s 95 counties saw lower unemployment rates when compared to January 2018.
“It is great to see unemployment rates decrease in so many counties during February,” Tennessee Labor Commissioner Burns Phillips said in a report Thursday. “While this type of rebound in February is typical after the state usually experiences a slight uptick in unemployment after the holidays, it is not a given.”
In Georgia, the Carpet Capital enjoyed the biggest drop in the unemployment rate last month, although Dalton’s 5.5 percent was still the highest among Georgia’s 14 metro areas.
“It’s good to see we picked up this year right where we left off from 2017,” Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said. “I expect Georgia will have a very good 2018.”
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.
Area jobless numbers in February
Among the 19 counties in the Chattanooga region, unemployment last month fell in 13 counties, rose in 1 and was unchanged in the other five.› Hamilton, 3.5 percent, down 0.1 percent› Bradley, 3.6 percent, down 0.1 percent› Coffee, 3.6 percent, unchanged› Franklin, 3.6 percent, unchanged› Catoosa, Ga., 3.9 percent, unchanged› Van Buren, 4.2 percent, down 0.5 percent› Dade, Ga., 4.3 percent, up 0.2 percent› McMinn, 4.4 percent, down 0.1 percent› Grundy, 4.4 percent, down 0.6 percent› Walker, Ga., 4.4 percent, unchanged› Sequatchie, 4.5 percent, down 0.3 percent› Polk, 4.6 percent, down 0.2 percent› Meigs, 4.8 percent, down 0.3 percent› Chattooga, Ga., 4.9 percent, unchanged› Marion, 5.1 percent, down 0.1 percent› Whitfield, Ga., 5.3 percent, down 1.3 percent› Bledsoe, 6 percent, down 0.2 percent› Murray, Ga., 6.1 percent, down 0.9 percent› Rhea, 6.3 percent, down 0.5 percentSources: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Georgia Department of Labor