For the second straight month, Scurry County’s unemployment rate and the number of people in the workforce fell, according to figures released by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) today.
The December unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, down from 4.2 percent in November. In October, the county had an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent.
During December, the TWC reported that the county had 8,376 people in the workforce and 344 of those were classified as unemployed.
In November, the county had 8,477 people in the workforce and 359 were unemployed.
In December 2014, when the unemployment rate was 2.4 percent, Scurry County had 9,646 people in the workforce and 236 were classified as unemployed by the TWC.
Borden County had the lowest unemployment rate in the region at 2.9 percent while Mitchell County had the highest rate at 6 percent.
Other county totals were Kent, 3 percent; Andrews, 3.6 percent; Garza, 3.6 percent; Fisher, 3.9 percent; Coke, 4 percent; Dawson, 4.2 percent; Nolan, 4.4 percent; and Howard, 4.8 percent.
Texas employers expanded their payrolls in December with the addition of 24,900 seasonally adjusted non-farm jobs. December was the 10th consecutive month of job increases for Texas.
“Texas finished 2015 on a strong note in December with employers adding 166,900 jobs over the year across a diverse range of industries,” said TWC Chairman Andres Alcantar. “Our state offers many advantages to employers who choose to do business in Texas and we are pleased employers continue to create opportunities for Texas workers.”
Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 4.7 percent in December, up from 4.6 percent in November, and remained below the national average of 5 percent.
The Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) recorded the month’s lowest unemployment rate among Texas MSAs with a non-seasonally adjusted rate of 2.9 percent, followed by the Austin-Round Rock and Lubbock MSAs each with rates of 3.1 percent in December.
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