Midland posts lowest jobless rate in Texas, others follow

MIDLAND – Midland’s labor market showed some unexpected strength in July, according to figures released by the Texas Workforce Commission.

An increase in the Midland metropolitan statistical area’s civilian labor force combined with an increase in the number of employed residents to send the unemployment rate inching down to 3.3 percent from 3.4 percent in June.

Midland was the only MSA to report a decline in its unemployment rate. The decrease was enough to allow Midland to again report the state’s lowest unemployment, just ahead of Amarillo with 3.4 percent and Austin-Round Rock San Marcos with 3.5 percent.

Preliminary numbers for July with June numbers in parentheses:

• Midland 3.3 (3.4)
• Amarillo 3.4 (3.2)
• Austin-Round Rock 3.5 (3.3)
• Lubbock 3.8 (3.7)
• San Antonio-New Braunfels 3.9 (3.8)
• Abilene 4.0 (4.0)
• College Station-Bryan 4.0 (3.9)
• Dallas-Plano-Irving 4.1 (4.0)
• Sherman-Denison 4.2 (4.0)
• Fort Worth-Arlington 4.3 (4.1)
• San Angelo 4.3 (4.3)
• Victoria 4.3 (4.2)
• Odessa 4.5 (4.4)
• Waco 4.5 (4.3)
• Wichita Falls 4.6 (4.4)
• Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land 4.7 (4.5)
• Tyler 4.8 (4.5)
• Killeen-Temple 4.9 (4.7)
• Laredo 5.0 (5.0)
• Corpus Christi 5.1 (5.0)
• Longview 5.1 (4.9)
• Texarkana 5.4 (5.2)
• El Paso 5.5 (5.3)
• Beaumont-Port Arthur 6.6 (6.3)
• Brownsville-Harlingen 7.1 (7.0)
• McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 8.1 (7.8)

See Midland again posts lowest jobless rate in Texas.

Also see the Texas Workforce Commission’s August 2015 Labor Review or see a one-page snapshot of an area’s economy.