County unemployment rate drops to 4.2 percent

Scurry County’s unemployment rate and the number of people in the workforce both went down in November, according to figures released by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
The November rate of 4.2 percent was down from October’s 4.3 percent. The commission reported the county had 8,477 people in the workforce during the month and 359 were considered unemployed.
In October, 8,610 people were in the workforce with 371 classified as unemployed.
In November 2014, when the unemployment rate was 2.8 percent, the county had 9,775 people in the workforce with 269 classified as unemployed.
Kent County had the lowest unemployment rate in the region at 3.8 percent while Mitchell County had the top rate at 6.3 percent.
Other county totals were Borden, 3.6 percent; Garza, 3.8 percent; Coke, 4.4 percent; Fisher, 4.4 percent; Nolan, 4.4 percent; Dawson, 4.5 percent; and Howard, 4.9 percent.
Statewide, the TWC said employers expanded payrolls in November with the addition 16,300 seasonally adjusted non-farm jobs. That marked the ninth month of job increases for Texas in 2015.
“Texas employers added 179,300 jobs over the past year, highlighting the diversity of the Texas economy and job market,” said TWC Chairman Andres Alcantar.
Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 4.6 percent in November, up from 4.4 percent in October, and remained below the national average of 5 percent.
“I’m pleased to see that the construction industry continued to see growth in Texas in November,” said TWC Commissioner Representing Labor Ronny Congleton. “This is a good indicator that the state’s economy is growing and that job opportunities will continue to increase.”
The construction industry accounted for more than half of November’s net job gains with the addition of 9,000 jobs.
The Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) recorded the month’s lowest unemployment rate among Texas MSAs with a non-seasonally adjusted rate of 3.2 percent, followed by the Austin-Round Rock and Lubbock MSAs with rates of 3.3 and 3.4 percent, respectively.