This paper analyzes wage trends in the Chattanooga metro area between 2001 and 2023. Throughout this period, wages in the area were below those for the country as a whole. The first half of the period, which had two recessions, saw Chattanooga’s real median wage fall while the country’s rose. During the second half, however,…
11/7/2024: The Geography and Demographics of the Chattanooga Jobs Boom
Previous CRER research described how employment growth in the Chattanooga metro area from 2014 to 2022 was spread across demographic groups. This paper extends that research by comparing the effects across parts of the metro area and across demographic groups within each part. For most categories, the changes in the city of Chattanooga differ from…
7/25/2024: Origins and Destinations of Chattanooga’s Young Adult Migrants
This paper uses a unique dataset on the migration of young adults between commuting zones to analyze the most common origins and destinations of Chattanooga’s young adult migrants. Many more young adults moved into Chattanooga than moved out of it, but Chattanooga’s net in-migration rate was much lower than those for large areas such as…
5/16/2024: The Demographics of Chattanooga Employment Growth
The Chattanooga metro economy has experienced higher-than-average employment growth for the past decade. This paper examines how this manufacturing-led boom has meant higher employment to population ratios for every major demographic category, despite the major disruption of the COVID pandemic. It finds that the benefits of Chattanooga’s boom have been felt by every age group,…
4/24/2024: Chattanooga Employment Revised Upward
In March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released revised estimates of state and metro area nonfarm employment. As a result, more than 4 thousand jobs were added to the estimated total employment in the Chattanooga metro area. Revisions of this sort are an annual occurrence and can lead to dramatic changes in what we…