{"id":649,"date":"2026-04-23T13:56:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/?p=649"},"modified":"2026-04-23T13:56:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:56:50","slug":"4-23-26-new-crer-forecasts-for-chattanooga-employment-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/23\/4-23-26-new-crer-forecasts-for-chattanooga-employment-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"4\/23\/26: New CRER Forecasts for Chattanooga Employment Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"412\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1-2-1024x412.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-651\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2.456702433126795;width:525px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1-2-1024x412.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1-2-768x309.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1-2-1536x618.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1-2-580x233.png 580w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1-2-610x245.png 610w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/04\/Picture1-2.png 1656w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The CRER provides forecasts of quarterly nonfarm employment growth for the six-county Chattanooga MSA. Our new forecast is for net job gains of 3,200 for 2026 and 6,000 for 2027. These forecasts are a downgrade from our previous release in January, largely because of benchmark revisions that lowered estimates of recent job growth in the MSA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The figure shows actual and forecast quarterly job growth. All but one quarter since mid-2024 has had job losses, led by weakness in manufacturing. Growth is forecast to be below normal through 2026 and return to normal in 2027. Note that forecasts are contingent on the national economy exhibit somewhat higher growth than in 2025. Tariffs and the disruption of oil and raw materials due to the conflict with Iran make recovery of the manufacturing sector more challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/2026-04\/forecast-04-23-2026.pdf\">Download the forecast here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CRER provides forecasts of quarterly nonfarm employment growth for the six-county Chattanooga MSA. Our new forecast is for net job gains of 3,200 for 2026 and 6,000 for 2027. These forecasts are a downgrade from our previous release in January, largely because of benchmark revisions that lowered estimates of recent job growth in the&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/04\/23\/4-23-26-new-crer-forecasts-for-chattanooga-employment-growth\/\"><span>Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2009,"featured_media":650,"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":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-forecast","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>4\/23\/26: New CRER Forecasts for Chattanooga Employment Growth - 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\/04\/23\/4-23-26-new-crer-forecasts-for-chattanooga-employment-growth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4\/23\/26: New CRER Forecasts for Chattanooga Employment Growth - Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The CRER provides forecasts of quarterly nonfarm employment growth for the six-county Chattanooga MSA. Our new forecast is for net job gains of 3,200 for 2026 and 6,000 for 2027. 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