WASHINGTON COUNTY UNEMPLOYMENT RISES
Washington County’s unemployment rate rose slightly in the month of May. Figures released from the Texas Workforce Commission today (Friday), showed the county had a 4 percent unemployment rate. That’s a rise of four tenths of one percent from the April figures.
Unemployment rates generally rise at the end of May and the beginning of June as more people, including students begin looking for jobs.
The statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate also rose by four-tenths of a percentage point.
The state had a 5.1 percent unemployment rate, up from 4.7 percent recorded in April. The state rate is still better than the national figures of 6.3 percent unemployment. The state had 12.9 million workers on the job, and 655,000 unemployed people for the month of May.
There were rises in the jobless rate for several of the surrounding counties. Austin County’s unemployment rate rose to 4.9 percent, up from the 4.2 unemployment rate recorded in April.
Burleson County had a 4.1 percent unemployment rate, up from 3.8 percent.
The same thing happened in Colorado County with a May jobless rate of 4.1 percent, up from 3.8 percent.
The rises in unemployment took on a pattern in Fayette County. They had a jobless rate 3.4 percent, up from 3 percent. Grimes County had an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent.
There were some positive news in this month’s employment report. Only six of the state’s 254 counties had double digit unemployment. Starr County had the highest rate in the state with a 13.1 percent jobless rate. Roberts County had the lowest jobless rate in the state with an even 2 percent jobless rate. They took over from Hemphill County which had the lowest unemployment rate for several months. Hemphill County had a 2.1 percent unemployment rate. Reagan County also had a very low unemployment rate at 2.4 percent. Midland County had an unemployment rate of 2.6 percent. Most of these counties have rich oil and gas reserves, and there is a current rise in those commodities.