By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – The labor market: weak, to say the least. National figures won't budge, and now some economists don't expect much from that part of the economy for the rest of the year. But don't put the nail in the North Texas coffin just yet. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.
The state of Texas released the unemployment figures for April and I'm very pleased to say the lines got a little shorter in most of our area. Statewide the unemployment number went from only 6.7% to 6.6% - still well above the eight-year national high average of 6%. Now that figure is seasonally adjusted. It takes into account jobs gained or lost based on the season.
But the Dallas Metropolitan as well the Fort Worth/Arlington areas experienced a much greater decrease in unemployment, and those figures are not seasonally adjusted. In other words, these percentages don't care whether unemployment dropped because Six Flags or ABC Construction was hiring. Or for that matter whether it's part-time, full time or temporary. As information specialist for the Texas Workforce Commission, Phillip Arnold explained in this current climate, a job is a job and most people are just happy to find work, even if it might be temporary.
So, Fort Worth/Arlington went from 6.2 in March to 5.9 in April. And the Dallas Metro area went down a whooping four-tenths percent to 6.6%. That's an increase of 5,300 jobs for Dallas. Furthermore, according to Mr. Arnold, raw numbers for the state, not seasonally adjusted, saw the largest increase in the number of employed from March to April since 1978. And once again, that includes part-time and temporary workers. Statewide, Leisure and Hospitality saw the biggest growth in employment, followed by Professional and Business Services. Dallas accounted for two-thirds of the mostly temporary jobs there. And, Retail Trade employment dropped. Houston suffered the most with the closing of its area Kmarts.
A little bit brighter picture, yes. Are we out of the woods yet? Probably not. For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m.
Email Maxine Shapiro about this story.