The jobless rate in Chattanooga rose last month to its highest level since last July, but labor officials blamed the increase on seasonal factors that swelled the number of people looking for work at the start of summer.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday that the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in metro Chattanooga rose to 3.9% in June, up from 3.% in May and a record low of 2.8% in May.
Chattanooga area employers added a net 5,537 jobs over the past year, boosting overall employment in the six-county Chattanooga metropolitan area at a healthy 2.1% annual rate.
Chattanooga’s metro jobless rate was also below the 4.4 percent rate in metro Cleveland just to the east and was well below the 4.5% rate in metro Dalton to the South.
Jobless in June
The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment in June was up from May in all Chattanooga area counties:Catoosa, Georgia: 3.4%, up 0.3%Dade, Georgia: 3.7%, up 0.5%Walker, Georgia: 3.7%, up 0.5%Hamilton: 3.9%, up 1%Coffee: 3.9%, up 1%Chattooga, Georgia: 4.0%, up 0.5%Whitfield, Georgia: 4.2%, up 0.5%Bradley: 4.3%, up 1.1%McMinn: 4.6%, up 1.1%Sequatchie: 4.9%, up 1.3%Grundy: 5.0%, up 1.5%Marion: 5.0%, up 1.4%Polk: 5.0%, up 1.4%Murray, Georgia: 5.1%, up 0.8%Meigs: 5.4%, up 1.4%Van Buren: 5.4%, up 1.7%Bledsoe: 6.4%, up 1.6%Rhea: 6.7%, up 1.4%Source: Tennessee Department of labor and Georgia Department of Labor and Workforce Development