{"id":669,"date":"2026-01-20T03:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/?p=669"},"modified":"2026-05-24T03:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:10:17","slug":"1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/20\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"1\/20\/26: Job Market Clouds Gather in Chattanooga: Slow 2026, Sunny 2027 Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"533\" height=\"305\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-08-152718.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-569\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.7329811014021541;width:453px;height:auto\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/gary-w-rollins-college-of-business\/crer\/people#HowardJWallDirectorandChiefEconomist\">CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall<\/a> was interviewed by NewsChannel 9 about the most recent CRER forecast for the Chattanooga economy: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A new forecast shows the Chattanooga area is likely to see slower job growth as 2026 begins, but researchers say a rebound is expected the year after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/newschannel9.com\/news\/local\/report-chattanooga-job-growth-expected-to-stay-weak-in-2026-before-rebounding-in-2027\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A report released last week by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga<\/a>\u00a0shows 2025 had the weakest job growth since 2014 and the slowest since the COVID year of 2020. The outlook for 2026 is similar, with growth expected to remain soft before picking up again in 2027.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/newschannel9.com\/news\/local\/job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\">Watch the story here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall was interviewed by NewsChannel 9 about the most recent CRER forecast for the Chattanooga economy: A new forecast shows the Chattanooga area is likely to see slower job growth as 2026 begins, but researchers say a rebound is expected the year after that. A report released last week&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/20\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\/\"><span>Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2009,"featured_media":569,"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-669","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\/20\/26: Job Market Clouds Gather in Chattanooga: Slow 2026, Sunny 2027 Ahead - 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\/20\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1\/20\/26: Job Market Clouds Gather in Chattanooga: Slow 2026, Sunny 2027 Ahead - Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall was interviewed by NewsChannel 9 about the most recent CRER forecast for the Chattanooga economy: A new forecast shows the Chattanooga area is likely to see slower job growth as 2026 begins, but researchers say a rebound is expected the year after that. A report released last week&hellip; Continue Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/20\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-20T03:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-24T03:10:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-08-152718.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"305\" \/>\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=\"1 minute\" \/>\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\\\/20\\\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Howard Wall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7\"},\"headline\":\"1\\\/20\\\/26: Job Market Clouds Gather in Chattanooga: Slow 2026, Sunny 2027 Ahead\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-20T03:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-24T03:10:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":104,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/152\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Screenshot-2025-12-08-152718.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Forecast\",\"Media\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/20\\\/1-20-26-job-market-clouds-gather-in-chattanooga-slow-2026-sunny-2027-ahead\\\/\",\"name\":\"1\\\/20\\\/26: Job Market Clouds Gather in Chattanooga: Slow 2026, Sunny 2027 Ahead - 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