By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
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Dallas, TX – For the first time since 2004, Texas unemployment has hit 6-percent. That's a big jump from the 4.2 percent unemployment rate Texas had a year ago. KERA's Shelley Kofler reports that while we are still are still doing better than most of the country, this may be the beginning of a decline in jobs for our state.
For weeks, state officials have been bracing for the December employment numbers. Ever since Comptroller Susan Combs confirmed Texas is no longer adding jobs, and the slide may go on for months.
Combs on Jan. 12: Texas employment is expected to have peaked in the fourth quarter of calendar 2008 then it is going to decline, we expect until the third quarter of 2009.
The Texas Workforce Commission says the greatest loss of jobs in December came in manufacturing, transportation, trade and utilities. Some new jobs were added in the leisure and hospitality industries, and in services like automotive, electronic and commercial repair.
Midland experienced the lowest unemployment rate of 3.1 percent. Dallas unemployment hit 6 percent. Fort Worth's was lower at 5.6 percent. McAllen topped 9 percent. In a January 16 interview we asked Governor Rick Perry about assistance for those who find themselves out of work.
Reporter: what can you say to them about what the state offers you to help you get back on your feet?
Perry: Get up every morning and thank God you live in Texas and you don't live in California because you would have been out of a job two years ago or three years ago.
Perry says finding a job in Texas should be easier than in other parts of the country. Nonetheless, the comptroller more than 100-thousand Texas jobs will disappear between now and September. And she says the unemployment that is 6 percent today will reach 6.7 percent next year. That would put us back where we were in 2003 when the state faced its last economic downturn.