Scurry County’s 9.7 percent June unemployment rate is nearly 3 percentage points lower than May’s rate.
According to data from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), Scurry County’s June unemployment rate was 12.4 percent in May. In April the unemployment rate here was 10.6 percent. It was 5 percent in March and was 3.8 percent in January and February.
The overall workforce in Scurry County continued to grow, from 6,229 in May to 6,455 in June, while the number of employed individuals increased from 5,456 in May to 5,829 in June. The number of unemployed individuals fell from 773 in May to 626 in June, leading to the county’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate.
Last June, the workforce was 6,845 and of that, 6,587 individuals were employed.
In June 2014, when the county experienced its highest June mployment of the last 10 years, the overall workforce included 8,661 individuals, of which 8,336 were considered employed by TWC, leading to an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent.
The June 2020 workforce and number of employed individuals are the lowest June figures of the past 10 years.
Borden County had the lowest unemployment rate among rural counties in the surrounding area at 3.8 percent. Kent and Fisher counties had the next lowest June unemployment rates in the immedicte are at 4.5 and 5.4 percent respectively.
Other June county unemployment rates in the surrounding area were Nolan, 6.1 percent; Garza, 8.3 percent; Mitchell, 9.5 percent; Howard, 9.4 percent; Dawson, 9.9 percent; and Andrews, 10 percent. All the counties showed decreases in the unemployment rate between May and June.
In June, Texas saw a decrease in the state unemployment rate to 8.6 percent from last month’s 13.0 percent.
This is the second consecutive decrease in the state unemployment rate since March 2020 when the Texas economy was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas is below the national rate of 11.1 percent.
In June, the Leisure and Hospitality industry added 142,700 jobs. Trade, Transportation and Utilities added 44,200 positions and Other Services added 21,500 positions over the month.
The Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) recorded June’s lowest unemployment rate among Texas MSAs with a not seasonally adjusted rate of 6 percent, followed by the Abilene MSA with the second lowest rate of 6.4 percent.
The College Station-Bryan MSA recorded the third lowest rate of 6.5 percent. Employment estimates released are produced with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.