Hopkins County’s unemployment rate continued to be the lowest in Northeast Texas Workforce Development Area for the second straight month in August, according to the latest Texas Labor Market Information report.
Overall, the number of people unemployed in Texas actually dropped from 632,432 in July 2022 to 607,1211 unemployed in August 2022, both down from August 2021 when 781,301 were unemployed across the state.
Although fewer were unemployed, the rate still went up because Texas’ labor force shrank from 14,603,777 in July 2022 to 14,541,496 in August 2022, likely due to youth going back to school. That’s still a larger Texas labor force in August 2022 than the 14,237,859 labor force of August 2021.
More people are becoming employed in Texas each month. Only 13,465,558 people across the state worked in August 2021, then 13,971,345 worked in July 2022. That number had increased to 13,934,375 employed last month across the state of Texas.
According to Texas Workforce Commission, Texas that’s because there were 16,400 nonfarm jobs added in August 2022. That’s 10 consecutive months in which the state set new employment highs. Texas has added a total of 726,900 positions since August 2021. The Texas seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from July 2022 — the first increase in the unemployment rate since April 2020.
Hopkins is one of only three counties in NETWDA with August 2022 unemployment rates below the overall 4.2% state rate.
Hopkins County’s unemployment rate dipped slightly from the seasonably adjusted 3.4% in July to 3.3% in August 2022, which is still 1% less than in August 2021. It should be noted that the labor force within the county was 17,977, down from 18,061 in July 2022, but slightly higher than the 17,796 recorded in August of 2021. Of those, 588 people were still unemployed in August, down from 606 the month before and 761 unemployed in August 2021.
Franklin County’s unemployment rate was 3.4% in August 2022, the same as in July 2022, allowing the county to retain it’s NETWDA second place ranking. Forty-nine less people were employed in Franklin County in August 2022 than July 2022, which was still two more employed in August 2022 than one year before. Franklin County’s labor force was 5,175 , down from 5,226 in August 20212 and 5,229 in July 2022.
Delta had the third lowest unemployment rate in the Northeast Texas WDA, declining slightly from 4.2% in July to 4.1% in August 2022, down from 4.7% one year before. Delta County’s labor force rose from 2,428 in August 2021 to 2,456 in July 2022, then dipped a bit to 2,440 in August 2022.
While the overall labor force in the 9-county Northeast Texas WDA shrunk a bit from 125,006 in July 20222 to 124,556 in August 2022, not much different from the 124,468 recorded in August 2021. Unemployment too has continue to drop in NETWDA, from 6,850 in August 2021 to 5,827 in July 2022 and 5,688 in August 2022.
Although not below the 4.2 state unemployment rate, Lamar and Titus County both continued to have unemployment rates of 4.5% in August 2022, which are both below the NETWDA unemployment rate of 4.6%.
Lamar County’s labor force has continued to dip from 24,282 in August 2021 to 24,203 in July 2022 to 24,164 last month. While the number of people working fell from 23,115 in July to 23,087 in August. The number of unemployed has continued to decline from 1,236 in August 2021 to 1,088 in July 2022 and 1,076 last year. That’s a drop in unemployment from 5.1% in August 2021 to 4.5% in July and August of 2022.
Titus County’s unemployment rate dipped from 5.3% in August 2021 to 4.5% in July and August 2021. The workforce has fluctuated from 13,544 in August 2021 to 13,698 in July 2022, then 13,602 last month. The number of unemployed in Titus County has continued to dwindle from 723 in August 2021 to 623 in July 2022 and 607 in August 2022.
Bowie County’s unemployment rate continued to decline from 5.7% in August 2021 to 5% in July 2022 and 4.8% in August 2022. That’s 2,216 of the 38,871 labor force who were unemployed in August 2021; 39,227 of 1,974 unemployed in July 2022, and 1,895 of 39,148 unemployed in Bowie County in August 2022.
Cass County’s unemployment rate dipped from 6.5% in August 2021 to 5.4% in July 2022 and 5% in August 2022. That’s 795 out of a labor force of 12,286 unemployed in Cass County in August 2021, 657 of 12,269 unemployed in July and 613 of 12,187 unemployed in August 2022.
Red River County’s unemployment rate held steady at 5.3% from July to August of 2022, down from 5.6% in August 2021. Red River County added five people to the work force in August 2022, giving the county a total labor force of 5,431, leaving 289 unemployed last month. In August of 2021, Red River County reported 299 without jobs out of a labor force of 5,367. The labor force increased to 5.426 in July, with 285 unemployed.
Morris County has the highest unemployment rate in the 9-county region. In fact, unemployment rose from 7.6% in July 2022 to 7.8% last month, which was still less than the 10.2% unemployment rate in August of 2021. The number of unemployed dropped from 478 of 4,668 in August 2021 to 338 of 4,437 in July 2022, then rose to 344 of 4,433 last month.
