By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
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Dallas, TX – Unemployment in Texas rose again in July and now hovers close to eight percent. KERA's Shelley Kofler has details.
In July the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Texas rose to 7.9 percent, up from 7.5 percent the month before. Unemployment remained higher in the Dallas- Fort Worth -Arlington area. It jumped slightly to 8.3 percent.
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There's good and bad news in the report released by the Texas Workforce Commission. The good news: layoffs and job cuts appear to have slowed last month. In June some 40,600 Texans lost jobs. In July that number dropped dramatically to 4,600.
The bad news: the number of Texans looking for work grew. The Workforce Commission's Ann Hatchitt says the new jobseekers tend to be people who have moved to the state or Texans who weren't searching for work before.
Hatchitt: These could be students. These could be stay at home spouses who are thinking, we need a second job in this house in case the primary income is laid off. This could be retirees who are looking at very depleted retirement nest eggs who need to go back to work.
The biggest category for job loss in July was trade, transportation and utilities. The greatest job gains were in professional and business services, health and education.