Job growth expected to be slow in Chattanooga area
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Will there be more jobs coming to the Chattanooga area?
With inflation tied to high gas prices and other factors, many are asking what that means for the future of our economy.
A new report says that while the picture isn’t the brightest, we should not panic.
Dr. Howard Wall of UTC’s Center for Regional for Economic Research says that a recent analysis of job growth over the past 18 months shows that the Chattanooga area has lost nearly 2,000 jobs.
He says this is primarily because of losses in the manufacturing and business service sectors.
Dr. Wall said, “There are things locally that will make employment grow faster, but really the situation we’re in now is is national. Manufacturing is the problem and that’s a nationwide issue and in particular automobile. We are a heavy automobile and parts manufacturing hub.”
One area that is growing is the health and education sectors, which he says is not indicative of healthy growth.
Dr. Wall said, “It’s almost recession proof, you know it’s always rising because of the older population so you’re increasing healthcare so it’s good that we’re getting that, but it’s when that’s your only expanding sector or biggest expanding sector, it’s not really a great sign.”
He says that job growth is still expected, but it will likely be slow.
Dr. Wall said, “Taking into account the revised employment stats and since the revision made us perform not as well in the past, that did end up downgrading our forecast for the rest of this year…
He says that with the ongoing national issues surrounding tariffs and the Strait of Hormuz, our economy will continue to be impacted.
Dr. Wall said, “For example helium is 1/3 of helium comes from Qatar. Some may think you only need helium for balloons, but no you need it for a variety of manufacturing and also MRI machines.”
He says that while we are at the winds of the national economy, Chattanooga can still position itself well long-term.
Dr. Wall said, “There’s nothing really locally that we can do except keep plugging away and keep your eye on that on the long-term goal through investments in education and training.”
