Jobless in May The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell across Southeast Tennessee but was mixed in Northwest Georgia. Tennessee * Bradley, 2.8 percent, down 0.7 percent * Hamilton, 2.9 percent, down 0.7 percent * Franklin, 3 percent, down 0.7 percent * Coffee, 3.1 percent, down 0.5 percent * McMinn, 3.3 percent, down 1.0 percent * Polk, 3.5 percent, down 0.9 percent * Van Buren, 3.5 percent, down 0.8 percent * Marion, 3.6 percent, down 0.9 percent * Sequatchie, 3.7 percent, down 0.8 percent * Meigs, 3.9 percent, down 0.8 percent * Grundy, 4.1 percent, down 0.7 percent * Bledsoe, 4.5 percent, down 1.2 percent * Rhea, 5.1 percent, down 1.5 percent Georgia * Catoosa, 4.1 percent, up 0.1 percent * Chattooga, 4.8 percent, up 0.2 percent * Dade, 4.3 percent, up 0.2 percent * Walker, 4.6 percent, unchanged * Whitfield, 5 percent, down 0.1 percent * Murray, 5.7 percent, unchanged Sources: Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Georgia Department of Labor

Unemployment in metropolitan Chattanooga fell last month to its lowest level in 16 years as employers in the six-county region added nearly 7,800 jobs in the past year.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said today that Chattanooga's jobless rate in May fell by a half a percentage point to 3.3 percent — the lowest rate since May 2001. Employment over the past year in metro Chattanooga grew by nearly 3.2 percent, or 7,793 net new jobs.

In neighboring metro Cleveland, Tenn., unemployment fell even more by seven tenths of a percent to 2.9 percent — the lowest level since comparable records are available dating back to the turn of the century.

"We continue to see a substantial drop in the unemployment rate of our metropolitan areas, which is great," Tennessee Labor Commissioner Burns Phillips said today. "But the most encouraging numbers are coming from Tennessee's distressed counties, many of which saw a significant drop in their unemployment rates."

Rhea County continued to have the highest jobless rate among Tennessee's 95 counties even though unemployment in Rhea County plunged during May by 1.5 percent from April's level. Rhea was the only county in the state with an unemployment rate above 5.0 percent in May.

The jobless rate fell in every county except Cannon County,

"This shows that job growth in Tennessee isn't exclusive to our major metropolitan areas; people are returning to the workforce in every corner of our state," Phillips said. "We continue to focus our resources on those Tennesseans who are still out of work, but the numbers show we are making progress."

Preliminary unemployment rates have fallen for both Tennessee and the United States. Decreasing by seven-tenths of a percentage point, the state rate is 4.0 percent for May. The national rate fell a tenth of a percentage point to 4.3 percent for the month.

Davidson County has the state's lowest major metropolitan rate at 2.1 percent, a decline from 2.7 percent during the prior month. Knox County's rate is 2.5 percent, decreasing from April's 3.1 percent. Hamilton County declined from its previous month's rate of 3.6 to 2.9 percent while Shelby County has an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent, a decrease from 4.4 percent in April.