Texas Border Cities Record New Unemployment Rate Decline in May

TEXAS – During the month of May 2022, border cities such as El Paso, Brownsville, Laredo and McAllen recorded an annualized decrease of nearly 2.05% in their unemployment rate, according to data from the Texas Labor Commission (TWC).

Texas added 74,200 total nonfarm jobs in May 2022. For the seventh consecutive month, the state set new employment highs as total nonfarm jobs reached 13,357,100.

The state added a total of 762,400 jobs since May 2021. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2%, a 0.1 percentage point decrease from April 2022.

Leisure and Lodging gained 27 thousand 600 jobs during the month. Professional and Business Services added 15 thousand 300 jobs, followed by Trade, Transportation and Utilities employment, which grew by 11 thousand 700 positions.

Three major sectors exceeded their pre-Covid-19 employment levels for the first time in May 2022, Construction, Manufacturing and Leisure-Hospitality. This brings the total number of industries that have recovered from the pandemic-related recession to eight, joining Trade, Transportation and Utilities, Information, Financial Activities, Professional and Business Services, and Education and Health Services.

The Amarillo and Austin-Round Rock metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) recorded the lowest May unemployment rates among Texas MSAs, with a non-seasonally adjusted rate of 2.7 percent, followed by College Station-Bryan, at 2.9 percent, and Lubbock, at 3.0 percent.

El Paso, recorded a non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate this past May of 4.3, contrasting with the 6.2 rate achieved in the same month of 2021. Brownsville had a rate of 6.1, down from 8.1 a year earlier.

Laredo registered in May 2022 an unemployment rate of 4.3, in contrast to the 6.3 obtained in the same period of 2021; while McAllen, reached 6.9 at the end of the fifth month of the year, below the 9.2 it registered last year.

According to the figures presented, El Paso closed May 2022 with a total of 15,700 unemployed people, while 345,500 citizens were working. In Brownsville, 10,600 people ended May without work, while 164,700 were employed.

For its part, the city of Laredo reported 5 thousand unemployed against 112 thousand 300 workers in May 2022; while McAllen counted 25 thousand 500 citizens looking for work, contrasting with the 343 thousand 100 who were employed at the end of said period.

Source: MEXICO-NOW Staff