{"id":696,"date":"2026-01-24T18:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T18:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/?p=696"},"modified":"2026-05-24T18:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T18:36:22","slug":"1-24-26-utc-economist-analyzes-area-job-growth-predicts-bounce-back-by-end-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/24\/1-24-26-utc-economist-analyzes-area-job-growth-predicts-bounce-back-by-end-of-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"1\/24\/26: UTC Economist Analyzes Area Job Growth, Predicts Bounce Back by End of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Local 3 News covered the release of new estimates of job growth in Chattanooga and of the CRER’s latest forecast. According to CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall<\/a>, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“2025 was a pretty weak year,\u201d Wall says. \u201cWe had positive job growth, but it was choppy and not very strong.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wall says the job net growth was around 2,000 this past year, and in previous years, it was more than twice that, with 4,000-8,000 new jobs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The 2,000 jobs in a year is the slowest job growth since 2014, other than the pandemic years,” Wall says.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wall says it’s not that people are being laid off: hiring is just slower.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also says periods of growth or decline in certain sectors can be indicators, such as the decline in leisure and tourism and growth in healthcare and local government.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That’s usually a sign that the economy is not doing well when those are your two strong sectors,\u201d Wall says.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the rest of the story here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local 3 News covered the release of new estimates of job growth in Chattanooga and of the CRER’s latest forecast. According to CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall, “2025 was a pretty weak year,\u201d Wall says. \u201cWe had positive job growth, but it was choppy and not very strong.” Wall says the job net… <\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2009,"featured_media":698,"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":[2,7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-data-release","8":"category-forecast","9":"category-media","10":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n1\/24\/26: UTC Economist Analyzes Area Job Growth, Predicts Bounce Back by End of 2026 - 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\/24\/1-24-26-utc-economist-analyzes-area-job-growth-predicts-bounce-back-by-end-of-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1\/24\/26: UTC Economist Analyzes Area Job Growth, Predicts Bounce Back by End of 2026 - Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Local 3 News covered the release of new estimates of job growth in Chattanooga and of the CRER’s latest forecast. 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