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…
4/19/2024: Vote by VW Workers Could Be Felt Nationwide
A Channel 9 news story on the views of various people, including CRER director Howard Wall, as VW workers consider whether to have UAW represent them. It’s the final day of voting and the next step is to consider what happens next at the VW factory, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and elsewhere. Read and watch the story.
4/17/2024: Last-Minute Campaigning Over the UAW-VW Vote
A news story on Ch. 9 looked at the campaign mounted by those who oppose the upcoming vote on whether VW workers in Chattanooga will be represented by the UAW. CRER director Howard Wall talked about the effects of unionization and is quoted as favoring the process and the campaigns on both sides to get…
4/4/2024: It’s OK for Local Politicians to Opine About the UAW
A news story on Ch. 9 pursued the question of whether ethical and legal lines are crossed when local politicians criticize the UAW’s unionization efforts at the VW plant in Chattanooga. CRER director Howard Wall says that politicians exercising their first-amendment rights are not guilty of illegal or unethical “union-busting”. Read the story
3/25/2024: Chattanooga’s Manufacturing-Led Resurgence
Over the past decade, the economy of the Chattanooga metro area has outperformed that of the country as a whole. Between January 2014 and December 2023, the number of nonfarm jobs (also called payroll employment) rose by 18.8 percent in the Chattanooga metro area, but by only 14 percent in the United States. The COVID…