Unemployment rises in January despite job gains

Rhea County unemployment rate tops 10 percent, second highest in state

Despite stronger job growth over the past year, Georgia and Tennessee are starting 2017 with higher jobless rates than the U.S. as a whole.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday the jobless rate in metropolitan Chattanooga during January rose by eight-tenths of a percent to 5.6 percent. Chattanooga’s nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate was slightly below Tennessee’s 5.7 percent rate in January but still above the comparable 5.1 percent nonseasonally adjusted jobless rate for the country as a whole.

“Tennessee is still showing healthy economic growth and adding jobs, but the labor force is also increasing,” said Dr. Bill Fox, director of the Boyd Center for Economic Research at the University of Tennessee. “This monthly increase (in the unemployment rate) doesn’t negate the overall growth of Tennessee.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics readjusts its employment figures each year at this time.

The Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday that the unemployment rate in January was unchanged in the Peach State at 5.5 percent. Georgia’s rate was down a tenth of a percent from a year ago and the state did grow jobs at a robust 2.7 percent pace in the past year, adding 114,700 jobs from January 2016 to January 2017.

“While the rate was unchanged, our employers continued to create jobs, our labor force continued to grow and more people went to work,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “This is a good way to start off a new year.”

In the past year, Tennessee grew at a 2 percent pace, adding 58,800 jobs from January 2016 to January 2017. Nationwide, employment grew at a 1.6 percent pace.

Georgia’s labor department will release its county figures next week. Across Southeast Tennessee, the jobless rate rose in January in all 12 area counties, according to figures released Thursday. The jobless rate was highest in Rhea County, where unemployment rose to 10.2 percent after the shutdown last year of both Goodman Manufacturing and Fujifilm Hunt in Dayton, Tenn.

Among Tennessee’s 95 counties, Rhea County’s jobless rate was the second highest behind only the rural, upper West Tennessee community of Lake County, which reported an 11.3 percent unemployment rate in January.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfree press.com or at 423-7576340.