Longview job market beats state average

LONGVIEW – The three-county Longview metro area added about 2,200 jobs from August 2011 to August 2012 — including 1,000 positions in the mining, logging and construction sector, which includes many energy industry jobs.

Gregg, Rusk and Upshur counties had an August unemployment rate of 6.2 percent, with 108,200 people employed in non-farm jobs. The rate was down from 7.2 percent in August 2011 and is considerably better than the state average of 7 percent and the national unemployment rate of 8.2 percent in August.

The Longview metro area had 15,600 people on jobs in the mining, logging and construction sector in August. That was up 6.9 percent from August 2011 when there were about 14,600 employed.

The Texas Workforce Commission said the leisure and hospitality industries added 300 jobs in the past year in the Longview area, while the education and health sector and professional and the business services area each added 200 jobs in the past year.