Texas unemployment rate hits 22-year high

Concho Valley job loss effects not as severe

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Texas unemployment hit a 22-year high in August at 8 percent, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday, with a loss in 62,200 nonagricultural jobs, but San Angelo is faring better than most cities in Texas and nationally.

The last time the unemployment rate in Texas hit 8 percent was in November 1987 during the dying days of an oil bust that ravaged the Texas economy.

But while Texas has seen an increase in unemployment, it remains well below the national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent. Construction and manufacturing were the hardest-hit in Texas in August, losing a combined 35,500 jobs.

For San Angelo and the Concho Valley, the job-loss effects of the recession are below both state and national averages.

Cathy Ballard, director of the Concho Valley Workforce Development Board, said San Angelo for August bucked the national and state trends, with the unemployment rate dropping from 6.8 to 6.7 percent.

“Hopefully, by September, we will continue to see unemployment rates go down,” she said.

Although many people believe the recession began in 2008 with the financial meltdown on Wall Street after the Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual went bankrupt, the National Bureau of Economic Research said the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007.

The Concho Valley did not feel the effects immediately, Ballard said, but the recession initially affected oil field companies, mining companies and small manufacturers.

“Since the beginning of the year, we have had over 3,600 people come through the Workforce,” Ballard said, referring to the Workforce Development Board.

In addition, there were 3,600 people on unemployment insurance in August, she said. However, that number is down from about 3,900 claims in July.

Unemployment may be down, but Phil Neighbors, president of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce, said in the last three to four months, the city has seen a negative impact on its sales tax revenue, which is generally viewed as an indicator of economic activity.

In June the sales tax was down 8.9 percent, in July it dropped 5.5 percent, and in August it fell by 12 percent.

“We are definitely feeling the effects now,” he said.

Even though sales tax revenue has declined in the past few months, San Angelo on a year-to-date basis is still 1 percent ahead of this point in 2008.

“I don’t want to paint a rosy picture about our situation,” he said. “But we can be thankful our isolation provides insulation.”

San Angelo mayor pro tem Jon Mark Hogg said he’s pretty optimistic about the economy.

“Obviously, we’re all concerned,” he said. “But we’ve been holding our own.”

Hogg also said some ways the community can help San Angelo recover is to continue trade with local businesses, promote job growth and new businesses and focus on entrepreneurship so people will continue to start their own businesses.

He said, “We need to have a unified approach to economic development in San Angelo.”

Unemployment rates

Select Texas cities in August, with July percentages in parentheses:

Abilene — 6.1 (6.3)

Amarillo — 5.6 (5.8)

Austin-Round Rock — 7.2 (7.3)

Beaumont- Port Arthur — 10.8 (10.6)

Brownsville- Harlingen — 10.5 (10.6)

College Station- Bryan — 6.4 (6.5)

Corpus Christi — 7.8 (8.0)

Dallas-Plano-Irving — 8.2 (8.3)

El Paso — 9.6 (9.7)

Fort Worth- Arlington — 8.3 (8.3)

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown — 8.4 (8.4)

Killeen-Temple- Fort Hood — 7.0 (7.2)

Laredo — 9.1 (9.4)

Longview — 8.3 (8.5)

Lubbock — 5.7 (6.1)

McAllen-Edinburg- Mission — 11.4 (11.5)

Midland — 6.1 (6.3)

Odessa — 9.3 (9.4)

San Angelo — 6.7 (6.8)

San Antonio — 7.0 (7.1)

Sherman-Denison — 8.5 (8.5)

Texarkana — 6.4 (6.4)

Tyler — 7.8 (8.1)

Victoria — 7.9 (7.9)

Waco — 7.3 (7.2)

Wichita Falls — 7.9 (8.0)

Source: Texas Workforce Development Board