More people in Scurry County were classified as unemployed in June which led to the unemployment rate topping 5 percent for the fifth time this year.
According to Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) data, 354 of the 6,987 people in the county’s workforce were classified as unemployed. The June unemployment rate was 5.1 percent, 0.3 of a percentage point higher than May’s 4.8 percent. In May, the county had 6,649 people in the workforce and 337 were unemployed.
The June 2017 rate is more than 1 percentage point lower than June 2016. One year ago, the county’s unemployment rate was 6.7 percent when 7,816 people were in the workforce and 521 were classified as unemployed.
Kent County had the lowest unemployment rate in the region at 2.3 percent while Mitchell County had the highest at 6.2 percent.
Other county rates were Borden, 3.3 percent; Garza, 3.6 percent; Andrews, 3.7 percent; Fisher, 3.7 percent; Coke, 3.8 percent; Nolan, 4.7 percent; Howard, 4.9 percent; and Dawson, 5.9 percent.
The Texas economy expanded in June for the 12th consecutive month with the addition of 40,200 seasonally adjusted non-farm jobs. Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent, down from 4.8 percent in May.
Texas’ annual employment growth outperformed the previous two years with 319,300 jobs added over the year, bringing the state’s annual growth rate up by 0.4 percentage points to 2.7 percent.
“Texas employers added 319,300 jobs over the past year, with 10 out of 11 industries adding jobs in the dynamic Texas economy,” said TWC Chairman Andres Alcantar. “TWC will continue to support strategies that boost the job creation efforts of Texas employers and equip Texas students and workers with in-demand skills.”
The Amarillo and Austin Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) recorded the month’s lowest unemployment rate among Texas MSAs with a non-seasonally adjusted rate of 3.4 percent, followed by the Midland MSAs with a rate of 3.5 percent. The College Station-Bryan MSA registered a rate of 3.8 percent for June.