Unemployment in metropolitan Chattanooga rose last month to its highest monthly rate in nearly two years, but the increase reflects a growing workforce, not any slowdown in employment.
Jobless in July
The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates in July were up in 16 of the 19 counties in the Chattanooga area. * Catoosa County, Ga., 3.2%, down 0.2% * Dade County, Ga., 3.4%, down 0.3% * Walker County, Ga., 3.6%, down 0.1% * Coffee County, 4.1%, up 0.3% * Gordon County, Ga., 4.1%, up 0.4% * Hamilton County, 4.2%, up 0.3% * Franklin County, 4.3%, up 0.2% * Whitfield County, Ga., 4.4%, up 0.2% * Chattooga County, Ga., 4.5%, up 0.4% * Bradley County, 4.7% up 0.4% * McMinn County, 4.9%, up 0.3% * Marion County, 5.5%, up 0.5% * Sequatchie County, 5.5%, up 0.6% * Meigs County, 5.6%, up 0.3% * Polk County, 5.6%, up 0.7% * Grundy County, 5.7%, up 0.7% * Van Buren County, 5.8%, up 0.4% * Bledsoe County, 6.7%, up 0.4% * Rhea County, 6.8%, up 0.1% Sources: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Georgia Department of Labor
Employers in the six-county Chattanooga metro area added 7,412 net new jobs in the past 12 months, growing employment in the region by a healthy 2.8%, according to a new jobs report by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. But the size of the workforce grew even more with 7,956 more people either working or looking for work in the Chattanooga area.
Chattanooga’s jobless rate has been below the comparable U.S. rate for most of the past three years, but unemployment in metro Chattanooga during July rose by a tenth of a percentage point to 4.0%, matching the national jobless rate.
The non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in metro Cleveland, Tennessee rose 0.4% to 4.8% while the jobless rate in metro Dalton, Georgia rose by a tenth of a percent to 4.6%. Dalton had the highest jobless rate last month of any of Georgia’s 14 metro areas last month.