Harrison County unemployment rate down

MARSHALL, HARRISON COUNTY – Harrison County’s unemployment rate dropped during June this year compared to 2014, with more than 300 additional individuals employed, according to preliminary numbers in a report from the Marshall Economic Development Corporation.

"Unemployment for this last month was several tenths of a percent below last year, as well as it should be," MEDCO Executive Director Donna Maisel said. "We hope at the end of the year we will finish strong with all of the additional activity that has taken place within the community."

The unemployment rate dropped 0.6 percent to a total of 5.2 percent, which is slightly higher than the current average rate for the East Texas workforce area at 4.8 percent.

The highest reported rate for the region is in San Augustine County at 9.3 percent and the lowest is from Anderson County at 4 percent.

As a whole, the East Texas region has fallen in line with the steady drop in unemployment in the past five years.

The average rate of unemployment in Texas peaked at 8.4 percent from August to October 2009, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic.