The end of seasonal work after the Christmas holiday pushed up Chattanooga's non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in January to the highest level in five months following the record low levels for unemployment reached at the end of last year.
But unemployment in the six-county Chattanooga metro area still remained below the national jobless rate and a full percentage point lower than a year ago. Government and Chamber of Commerce reports released Thursday also indicate job openings remain higher than the number of job seekers.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday that unemployment in the Chattanooga metro area rose from 2.8% in December to 3.7% in January. A year ago, Chattanooga's jobless rate stood at 4.7%.
The three Georgia counties in the Chattanooga metro area had the lowest jobless rate at 3% in January while the counties in Tennessee had slightly higher unemployment rates, ranging from 3.9% in Hamilton County to 4.4% in Sequatchie, according to the employment report.
In metro Cleveland, which includes Bradley and Polk counties, the nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose in January to 4% from 3% in December.
Jobless in January
The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates rose across Southeast Tennessee in January following the end of holiday and year-end hiring the previous month. The unemployment rates for each area county in January were:* Coffee, 3.3%, up from 3% in December * Franklin, 3.4%, up from 2.9% in December* Polk, 3.7%, up from 3.1% in December* Hamilton, 3.9%, up from 2.9% in December* Bradley, 4%, up from 3% in December* McMinn, 4%, up from 3.4% in December* Marion 4.1%, up from 3.4% in December* Rhea, 4.2%, up from 3.5% in December* Sequatchie, 4.4%, up from 3.3% in December* Meigs, 4.4%, up from 3.5% in December* Van Buren, 4.4%, up from 3.8% in December* Grundy, 4.6%, up from 4.1% in December* Bledsoe, 4.9%, up from 4.3% in DecemberSource: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Across the Southeast Tennessee region, unemployment was lowest in Coffee County at 3.3% and highest in Bledsoe County at 4.9%. Statewide, unemployment was lowest again in January in Williamson and Moore Counties in Middle Tennessee at 2.2% and highest in Perry County at 9.2%.
Each of Tennessee's 95 counties experienced an increase in unemployment during January and the statewide nonseasonally adjusted rate rose from 3.1% to 3.7%.
The state does not adjust county jobless rates for seasonal factors. But when the statewide rate is adjusted for normal seasonal patterns, Tennessee's jobless rate was actually lower in January, dropping to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.5% - the lowest it has been since November 2019.
Across the nation, seasonally adjusted unemployment for January increased slightly from 3.9% to 4%.
A separate report this week by the U.S. Department of Labor showed job openings outnumbered available workers by nearly 4.8 million in January. Nationwide, the labor department said there were 11.26 million job vacancies in January.
The website Chattanooga Calling listed 31,306 available jobs in the Chattanooga area on Thursday, or more than three times the 10,211 workers counted as unemployed in the metro area during January.
- Compiled by Dave Flessner