{"id":606,"date":"2026-01-16T21:26:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/?p=606"},"modified":"2026-01-19T21:33:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T21:33:23","slug":"1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/16\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\/","title":{"rendered":"1\/16\/26: Economic Report Predicts Sluggish Job Growth in Chattanooga Area"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"556\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/01\/Picture1-1024x556.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-594\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.8417613958231052;width:408px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/01\/Picture1-1024x556.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/01\/Picture1-768x417.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/01\/Picture1-580x315.png 580w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/01\/Picture1-610x331.png 610w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/01\/Picture1.png 1228w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>WDEF in Chattanooga has a story about the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/14\/1-14-26-new-crer-forecast-for-the-chattanooga-metro-economy\/\">recently released CRER forecast<\/a> for the Chattanooga economy. They spoke with CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dr. Wall said, \u201cManufacturing has been slow for a couple of years and that\u2019s nationally not just locally, although there\u2019s special cases locally, and manufacturing has not been helped at all by tariffs, despite that being the stated purpose of them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>However, he does say that investment in new technologies could set up the Chattanooga area for a resurgence in new jobs in the years to come.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dr. Wall said, \u201cWe are at the cutting edge of a few industries like like quantum and we know we have the fastest network. There are a lot of things that we can take advantage of as long as the national economy picks up.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>He says that ultimately, these job growth numbers, while below average, could be a sign of a strengthening economy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dr. Wall said, \u201c2025 was a pretty weak year and we should be recovering through 2026 if the national economy is fine. It\u2019ll take a few quarters so the next quarter that we\u2019re in now probably still be pretty weak. Second quarter, a little bit stronger and then by the fourth quarter and into 2027, hopefully will be back to normal.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wdef.com\/economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\/\">Read the story here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WDEF in Chattanooga has a story about the recently released CRER forecast for the Chattanooga economy. They spoke with CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall: Dr. Wall said, \u201cManufacturing has been slow for a couple of years and that\u2019s nationally not just locally, although there\u2019s special cases locally, and manufacturing has not been helped&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/16\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\/\"><span>Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2009,"featured_media":594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-forecast","8":"category-media","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>1\/16\/26: Economic Report Predicts Sluggish Job Growth in Chattanooga Area - Center for Regional Economic Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/16\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1\/16\/26: Economic Report Predicts Sluggish Job Growth in Chattanooga Area - Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WDEF in Chattanooga has a story about the recently released CRER forecast for the Chattanooga economy. They spoke with CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall: Dr. Wall said, \u201cManufacturing has been slow for a couple of years and that\u2019s nationally not just locally, although there\u2019s special cases locally, and manufacturing has not been helped&hellip; Continue Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/16\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-16T21:26:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-19T21:33:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/01\/Picture1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1228\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Howard Wall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Howard Wall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Howard Wall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7\"},\"headline\":\"1\\\/16\\\/26: Economic Report Predicts Sluggish Job Growth in Chattanooga Area\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-16T21:26:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-19T21:33:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":231,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/152\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Picture1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Forecast\",\"Media\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/1-16-26-economic-report-predicts-sluggish-job-growth-in-chattanooga-area\\\/\",\"name\":\"1\\\/16\\\/26: Economic Report Predicts Sluggish Job Growth in Chattanooga Area - 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