Jobless numbers up a bit across Abilene area
ABILENE – A majority of Big Country counties saw slight increases in the numbers of the unemployed in December. Only Shackleford saw a decrease, from a 4.8 percent unemployment rate in November down to 3.3 in December 2012.
Three counties, Coke, Eastland and Stonewall, retained their November numbers.
Abilene’s jobless rate slightly increased to 4.8 in December from 4.7 a month before. That number still is below the Texas rate, 6.1 percent, and well below the national average, 7.6 percent.
Nearly 81,000 people in the Abilene metropolitan statistical area, which is made up of Taylor, Jones and Callahan counties, had jobs in December, and the area had a 4.7 percent unemployment rate, up from 4.6 in November.
Taylor County’s unemployment rate also slightly increased last month, to 4.6 percent compared with 4.5 in November.
The Midland Metropolitan Statistical Area had the lowest jobless numbers in Texas last month, 3.1 percent, with the Odessa MSA coming in at second, 3.7 percent.
| County | Dec. 2012 | Nov. 2012 |
| Brown | 5.6 | 5.3 |
| Callahan | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Coke | 5.4 | 5.4 |
| Coleman | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| Comanche | 5.3 | 4.9 |
| Eastland | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Erath | 5.1 | 4.9 |
| Fisher | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Haskell | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| Howard | 5.4 | 5.2 |
| Jones | 5.5 | 5.2 |
| Kent | 4.5 | 3.8 |
| Knox | 5.2 | 4.8 |
| Mills | 4.8 | 4.5 |
| Mitchell | 5.4 | 5.3 |
| Nolan | 4.9 | 4.7 |
| Runnels | 5.2 | 5.0 |
| Scurry | 3.7 | 3.6 |
| Shackleford | 2.8 | 4.8 |
| Stephens | 4.9 | 4.8 |
| Stonewall | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Taylor | 4.6 | 4.5 |
For more on workforce data, see the Texas Workforce Commission.
You might also like
TG Magazine
Check out the latest issue of our flagship publication.