Chattanooga's job market remained strong ahead of the economic and health threats posed by the coronavirus, or COVID-19.
Local employers added nearly 6,000 net new jobs over the past 12 months, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Although the jobless rate in the 6-county region is up from the historic low of 2.9% reached last November, the 3.6% unemployment rate in Chattanooga in January matched the non-seasonally adjusted U.S. rate and remained one of the lowest in the past half century.
Tennessee's seasonally adjusted jobless rate at the start of 2020 was only 3.3%, still below the national rate of 3.6% and the lowest for any January in decades.
"We saw strong year-over-year growth in employment and a continued low jobless rate for January," said Dr. Bill Fox, director of the University of Tennessee Center for Business and Economic Research. "Until a month ago, the economy looked really strong so we know that going into whatever challenges we get from this coronavirus problem we enter this unchartered period ahead in a strong economic condition."
In Georgia, the jobless rate in January was only 3.1% - the lowest January in modern history.
"Over the year, we are still seeing positive data and our unemployment rates are still some of the lowest ever on record," Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a report Thursday.
Jobless in January
The unemployment rate in January was mixed compared with a year ago in most Chattanooga area counties:* Hamilton, 3.7%, up 0.1% from a year ago* Bradley, 3.8%, down 0.1% from a year ago* Coffee, 3.9%, up 0.3% from a year ago* Franklin, 4.1%, up 0.7% from a year ago* McMinn, 4.2%, down 0.2% from a year ago* Sequatchie, 4.5%, down 0.3% from a year ago* Polk, 4.6%, down 0.1% from a year ago* Van Buren, 4.7%, down 0.9% from a year ago* Grundy, 4.8%, up 0.2% from a year ago* Marion, 5.1%, up 0.2% from a year ago* Meigs, 5.5%, up 0/4% from a year go* Bledsoe, 5.9%, down 1.1% from a year ago* Rhea, 5.9%, down 1.4% from a year agoSource: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development
The economy may take a hit from the virus, which is keeping more consumers and workers at home, Fox said. The virus and its economic fallout from the drop in travel, tourism, entertainment and consumer purchases is likely to produce at least a mild economic downturn or recession, Fox said.
"With the cutbacks in conferences and travel, Nashville and Gatlinburg may be hit the hardest, but I think the entire economy is likely to see a slowdown from this," he said.
In reports issued Thursday about January's employment market ahead of those travel cutbacks, the job market remained relatively strong even though unemployment rates were trending higher than at the end of 2019.
In Dalton, the unemployment rate increased 0.7 percentage points in January, reaching 5.6 percent. But the jobless rate was still lower than a year ago when 6.2 percent of Dalton workers were without jobs.
In metro Cleveland, Tennessee, the jobless rate in January was 3.9%, up 07% from the previous month.
Among counties in the Chattanooga region, unemployment was lowest in January in Catoosa County in Northwest Georgia where the jobless rate was 3.0%. Unemployment was highest in the region during January in the rural Southeast Tennessee counties of Rhea and Bledsoe counties, both of which had a jobless rate in January of 5,9% and remained among the 15 distressed counties in the state.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.