CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall was featured in a story about the signs of a cooling local labor market:
Across the United States, manufacturing has slowed for the past two years, Wall said, and that has probably been a bit more pronounced locally.
“It’s been a negative for a full year for Chattanooga,” he said in a phone call.
Pent-up demand spurred a small manufacturing boom after the pandemic before job growth ultimately flattened out, Wall said. There was also likely overinvestment in certain industries. That includes the electric vehicle market, where federal incentives and enthusiasm for new technology might have caused companies to overestimate demand.