Unemployment falls in El Paso in July, but rises in Brownsville and Laredo
TEXAS – During the month of July 2024, the unemployment rate in Texas border cities such as Brownsville and Laredo showed an increase in their annual comparison, while El Paso registered a slight decrease, while McAllen showed no change, according to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
El Paso recorded a non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.6 last July, down from 4.8 in the same month in 2023. Brownsville had a rate of 5.9, down from 5.8 a year earlier.
Laredo registered an unemployment rate of 4.4 in July 2024, up from 4.2 the previous year; while McAllen reached 6.7 at the end of the seventh month, the same as in 2023.
According to the figures presented, El Paso closed July with a total of 18,000 unemployed people, contrasting with the 18,400 that were registered a year ago; while 390,300 citizens were working this year. In Brownsville, 10,900 people ended July without work, as opposed to 10,400 last year, while 185,800 were employed this year.
The city of Laredo reported 5,500 unemployed at the end of the seventh month of 2024, while 118,300 people were working during the same period; in McAllen, 25,700 citizens were looking for work, while 361,100 people were employed at the end of July 2024.
The seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Texas reached a new all-time high of 15,353,700 people, after adding 41,900 jobs during the month of July. This is the seventh consecutive month of growth in the Texas civilian labor force. Over the year, the state’s labor force has increased by 248,900 people.
The state’s seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment, which refers to the number of employed jobs in Texas, showed a decline of 14,500 positions, going from 14,180,900 in June to 14,166,400 in July. However, the number of nonfarm jobs in Texas grew by 265,500 positions since July 2023. This reflected an annual growth rate of 1.9%, which outpaced the nation’s by 0.3 percentage points.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Texas registered at 4.1 percent, 0.2 percentage points below the national rate.
Trade, Transportation & Utilities added 7,300 jobs in July, registering as the industry with the largest increase over the month. Financial Activities added 2,500 jobs during the month and Mining and Logging added 1,300 jobs.
With the addition of 900 jobs in July, Construction showed 4.0 percent growth over the year, which exceeded the industry’s national growth rate by a full percentage point.
The Midland Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) had the lowest unemployment rate among Texas MSAs with a non-seasonally adjusted rate of 2.8 percent in July, followed by the Amarillo MSA at 3.4 percent. The unemployment rate for the Austin-Round Rock and College Station-Bryan MSAs stood at 3.6 percent. The College Station-Bryan MSA ranked first in the nation for the largest percentage increase over the year in nonfarm employment at 6.0 percent not seasonally adjusted.
