Texas jobless rate slips to 4.1 percent but state loses jobs in August

The Texas unemployment rate slipped to 4.1 percent in August, falling to the lowest point since January 2001, even though the state lost jobs for the second time this year.

The Texas Workforce Commission said Friday that nonagricultural employment in the state dropped by 13,700 jobs from July. But the unemployment rate declined because the civilian labor force lost even more as poeple fell out of the workforce.

The Texas jobless rate remains markedly lower than the national figure of 5.1 percent. Statewide unemployment held steady in June and July at 4.2 percent.

Nationwide, lower oil prices are contributing to job losses in Texas and other big producing states, including Alaska and North Dakota. Texas, long one of the top job-creating states, lost more jobs in August than any state except New York, which lost the same amount.

The states with the biggest job gains in August were California, with 36,200; Florida, with 19,600; and Ohio, with 14,600.

The Texas mining and logging sector, which includes the oil and gas industry, dropped 5,300 positions, the Workforce Commission reported. Manufacturing dropped 5,600 positions and government and the trade and transportation lost 6,200 jobs each. The state’s leisure and hospitality sector led all major industries with an expansion of 5,900 jobs in August.

“We are continuing to see a steady decline in the rate of unemployment in our state and at 4.1 percent, the August rate is among the lowest our state has ever seen,” said TWC Commissioner Ronny Congleton, who represents labor. “While most regions of our state are seeing these declines, we are working hard with our local workforce partners to address the needs in those regions that are still struggling.”

The commission says the Austin-Round Rock and Midland areas had the lowest unemployment in Texas last month at 3.2 percent. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission region had the state’s highest jobless rate at 7.9 percent.

The unemployment rate in Fort Worth-Arlington was 4.1 percent and Dallas-Plano-Irving was 3.8 percent.

Nationwide, employers added 173,000 jobs in August, while the national unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent.

The state’s reported their unemployment data a day after the Federal Reserve decided against raising short-term interest rates, citing threats to the U.S. economy from weak growth in China and the persistence of very low inflation.

Tara Sinclair, chief economist for the jobs website Indeed, said the state data supports the Fed’s decision to delay. Ongoing lower rates could help spur further hiring.

Sinclair says that 36 states still have higher unemployment rates than they did before the Great Recession began in December 2007. And 14 have rates much higher than the 5 percent that the Fed says is consistent with a healthy economy, including Alabama, Arizona, California and North Carolina.

“These results are in line with the Fed’s holding off on an interest rate hike yesterday,” Sinclair said.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 10:24 AM with the headline "Texas jobless rate slips to 4.1 percent but state loses jobs in August."