Employment in metropolitan Chattanooga rose last month to its highest level since before the COVID-19 pandemic as the economy opened up this summer and Tennessee and Georgia limited jobless benefits to those still unemployed.
The jobless rate in the 6-county Chattanooga metropolitan area fell to 3.9% in July, down from 5.3% the previous month. The local jobless rate remained 1.8 percentage points below the comparable 5.7% non-seasonally adjusted U.S. jobless rate last month.
“We’re still not back to the pre-pandemic job levels in all areas, but employment continues to grow and the economy is clearly improving across Tennessee,” said Dr. Bill Fox, director of the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee.
In many industries, there are simply not enough workers to fill available jobs after many Baby Boomers opted to retire during the pandemic and some workers remain at home due to sickness or child care needs.
“We’re seeing businesses limit their hours and having to limit some of the services they provide because they can’t get enough help this summer,” said Rob Mortensen, president of CEO of HopsitaltyTN, which represents restaurants, hotels and attractions across Tennessee. “We need more people in Tennessee so the campaign we put together with the Department of Tourist Development is trying to get more workers to move to Tennessee. But that may take some time.”