A day after Governor Greg Abbott announced new reopening measures, the Texas Workforce Commission’s (TWC) monthly release shows Texas’ unemployment rate dropped 1.2 percent in the month of August.
Over 106,000 non-farm jobs were added in the month of August.
Texas continues to outperform the national average, which registered at 8.4 percent last month.
Particularly struggling are the Beaumont-Port Arthur, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, and Odessa regions, each with unemployment rates still in the double digits.
The oil and gas hubs of Texas are still struggling due to the transportation fissure and the global supply glut, though things are slowly improving.
The Amarillo, College Station-Bryan, and Abilene regions have the lowest unemployment rates all below five percent.
Two industries faced a job decrease from July to August — Mining and Logging and Education and Health Services, each with a loss of 2,900.
Meanwhile, the service sector added 105,000 jobs which includes Professional and Business Services and Trade, Transportation, and Utilities each adding around 30,000, while the governmental sector added 25,000 jobs.
TWC Chairman Bryan Daniel said of the report, “The Texas unemployment rate continues to move in a positive direction as job seekers and employers adjust to current challenges. TWC will continue our efforts to implement strategies designed to help strengthen the Texas economy.”
Governor Abbott’s extended reopening guidelines announced yesterday may result in a continuation of August’s relatively good employment news, but his decision to keep bars closed ensures a whole subsection of the Leisure and Hospitality sector will remain tied up.
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts announced at the beginning of September that last fiscal year closed with tax revenues down 3.4 percent from the previous year. Commerce has steadily improved since the government’s closure orders slammed the economy’s brakes back in March.
But Texas’ unemployment rate remains more than double its historic lows before the pandemic.
The TWC announced earlier this month that the additional weekly $300 federal unemployment benefits, which had accompanied the state disbursements, had run out and would cease after September 5.
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Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson is an Ohio native who graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2017. He is an avid sports fan who most enjoys watching his favorite teams continue their title drought throughout his cognizant lifetime. In his free time, you may find Brad watching and quoting Monty Python productions.