Unemployment rate highest in the region

Image
Body

Scurry County’s unemployment rate continued to climb, even as the workforce and number of employed individuals increased.

According to data from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), Scurry County’s May unemployment rate was the highest in the 19-county West Central Texas region at 12.4 percent. 

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 grew from 5,838 in April to 6,229 in May while the number of employed individuals increased from 5,221 in April to 5,456 in May. 

The number of unemployed individuals rose from 617 in April to 773 in May, leading to the county’s 12.4 percent unemployment rate.

Last May, the workforce was 6,801 and of that, 6,606 individuals were employed. 

In May 2014, when the county experienced its highest employment of the last 10 years, the overall workforce included 8,655 individuals, of which 8,378 were considered employed by TWC, leading to an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent.

The May 2020 workforce and number of employed individuals are the lowest May figures of the past 10 years.

Borden County had the lowest unemployment rate among rural counties in the surrounding area at 4.6 percent. 

Kent and Fisher counties had the next lowest May unemployment rates in the region at 5.4 and 6.8 percent respectively.

Other May county unemployment rates in the surrounding area were Nolan, 7.4 percent; Garza, 10.3 percent; Mitchell, 11.5 percent; Howard, 11.9 percent; Dawson, 13 percent; and Andrews, 12.9 percent. 

Several of these counties fall outside the West Central Texas Region and all these counties showed increases in the unemployment rate between April and May.

In the 19-county West Central Texas region, approximately 5,000 individuals returned to work, with nearly half of those jobs being in Taylor County. 

In Scurry County, TWC data indicates 235 people returned to work or entered the workforce.

 In May, Texas saw a decrease in the state unemployment rate to 13.0 percent. This is the first 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 13.3 percent.

The Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) recorded May’s lowest unemployment rate among Texas MSAs with a non-seasonally adjusted rate of 8.5 percent, followed by the College Station-Bryan MSA with the second lowest rate of 8.6 percent. The Abilene MSA recorded the third lowest rate of 8.9 percent.

Employment estimates released by TWC are produced in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. All estimates are subject to revision.