Delta, Franklin, Hopkins, Lamar Counties Jobless Rates Remain Below State Average
The unemployment rate in Hopkins County dipped slightly during August 2021, and Franklin County continued ahead of Hopkins County for the second consecutive month in a row with the lowest unemployment rate in the Northeast Texas/Texarkana Workforce Development Area, according to the Texas Workforce Commission and Texas Labor Market Index data released over the weekend.
Franklin, Hopkins, Delta and Lamar counties’ jobless rates remained below the state average of 5.3 percent (5.9 percent once seasonally adjusted) and NET WDA rate of 5.1 percent for August 2021. At the state level, that’s a 0.7 percent dip from July 2021 to August 2021, and a 1.6 percent dip from August 2020. Unemployment in the Northeast Texas WDA as a whole dipped 0.6 percent from month to month and was 0.4 percent lower than in August 2020.
Franklin County had the lowest unemployment rate of 4.2 percent in the 9-county region that makes up the Northeast Texas/Texarkana WDA. Hopkins County ranked second in the area with a 4.3 percent jobless rate, Delta County third at 4.7 percent and Lamar County fourth with a 5 percent unemployment rate.
Although 48 additional people obtained employment in Hopkins County in August, for a total of 16,646 people working, the overall labor force also shrank by 14 people to 17,394 from August to July. So, while the number of people seeking employment in Hopkins County dropped from 810 from July to 748 in August, the declining labor force offset the change in unemployment numbers, so the total August 2021 unemployment rate only dropped from 4.7 percent in July 2021 to 4.3 percent last month – matching the August 2020 unemployment rate. Notable is that the labor force in August 2020 was 17,770, with 17,022 working and the remaining 768 jobless, while the labor force last month consisted of 17,394 with 16,646 working and 748 jobless, according to the Texas Workforce Commission and Texas Labor Market Index data released over the weekend.
Franklin County’s unemployment rate dropped from 4.6 percent in July 2021 to 4.2 percent in August 2021, which also down from 4.5 percent in August 2021. The labor force in Franklin County grew by 5 to 5,320 in August 2021, up from 5,002 in August 2020, with 24 more people employed last month than in July 2021, causing the number of unemployed to shrink from 242 to 223 in August 2021. The labor force in Franklin County has grown by 328 workers since August 2020,
Delta County’s workforce was still less than the 2,433 recorded in August 2020, but had grown from 2,388 in July 2021 to 4,402 in August 2021. Only 114 people were unemployed last month, the same number reported one year before when the unemployment rate was also 4.7 percent, but down from129 unemployed in July 2021. Overall, that’s a drop of 0.7 percent from July to August 2021.
Lamar County’s unemployment rate dipped 0.7 percent to 5.0 in August 2021, which is 0.6 percent less than the unemployment rate reported one year before. The overall work force grew by 102 people from August 2020 to last month in Lamar County. From July 2021 to August 2021. However, the workforce in Lamar County rose from 23,820 in July 20201 to 24,133 in August 2021, while the number of jobless shrank from 1,367 to 1,218 last month – that’s 462 more people working in Lamar County last month than in July 2021 and 221 more working in August 2021 than one year before,
The unemployment rate for the city of Paris decline from 6.7 in July 2021 to 6.0 in August 2021, which was 0.5 percent less than in August of 2020, according to the WDA unemployment data released Sept. 17, 2021.
Titus County’s August 2021 jobless rate of 5.4 percent was down from 6.1 percent in July 2021 and 5.9 percent for August 2020. The workforce in this county shrunk from 13,213 in July to 13,189 last month, both down from 13,519 in August of 2021. The decreased workforce has also mean a decrease in unemployment from 800 without jobs in August 2020 to 801 in July 2021 and just 711 seeking employment in August 2021.
Red River County’s unemployment rate dropped from 6.2 percent (320 of 4,172 potential workers) in July 2021 to 5.6 percent (293 of 5,235 workers) in August 2021. Both months in 2021 are still higher than in August 2020, however, when the unemployment rate was 5 percent ( 2.62 of 5,277).
Bowie County’s unemployment rate also dropped from 6. 2 percent (2,389 of 38,673 labor force) in July 2021 to 5.6 percent (2,150 of the 38,554 labor force unemployed) in August 2021, down from 6.3 percent (2,457 of 39,187) in August 2020. Within Bowie County, Texarkana, Texas’ unemployment rate dripped from 7.1 percent in August 2020 when 1,085 of 15,187 were without jobs, to 6.2 percent (979 of 14,910 LF) in July 2021 and 6.4 percent (904 of 14,927) in August 2021. Texarkana, as a metropolitan statistical area posted a 5.1 percent unemployment rate for August 2021, with 3,241 of 63,073 unemployed; that’s down from 5.9 percent in July 2021 (3,757 of 63,867 unemployed), and 6.4 percent (4,081 of 63,855 LF) in August 2021.
Morris County continued to have the highest unemployment rate in the 9-county NETWDA area in August 2021, although the rate has declined from 11.3 in both August 2020 when 540 of the overall workforce of 4.767 were unemployed and July 2021 (512 of 4,513) to 10.4 percent (467 of of 4,498) in August 2021.
