South Texas Unemployment Rate Increased to 8.7 Percent in January
Workforce Solutions for South Texas
March 12, 2021
LAREDO, Texas – March 2021 ⎯ Workforce Solutions for South Texas (WSST) reported a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 8.7 percent in January 2021 for the three-county South Texas Workforce Development area. This represents an increase of 0.8 percent in comparison to December 2020. The City of Laredo MSA’s unemployment rate also rose to 8.3 percent in January up from 7.6 percent in December. The State’s rate rose to 7.3 percent, over the national average of 6.8 percent, according to a report by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
“As the calendar year begins unemployment rates usually increase slightly because people who were hired as temporary seasonal workers are laid off due to the slow down after the Christmas rush,” Rogelio Treviño, WSST’s Executive Director said.
The South Texas area, serving Jim Hogg, Webb, and Zapata counties, reported a Civilian Labor force of 122,158, with almost 10,568 receiving the unemployment insurance benefits. This means that 111,590 people are still employed in our area.
Essential Jobs reported an increase in the employment by industry, such as the Professional and Business Services (8.7%), Leisure and Hospitality (7.2%), Other Services (4.9%), Information (4.1%), Trade, Transportation and Utilities (3.8%), and Public Administration (2.0%). Industry reporting losses were the following: Natural Resources and Mining, Construction, Manufacturing, Financial Activities, and Education and Health Services.
“Although the unemployment is higher than it was a year ago for our area it has decreased from the early pandemic period. We are closely watching the changes in our civilian labor force as we’ve seen those numbers decrease during the pandemic affected economy,” Treviño said. “I anticipate that as we continue to recover from the pandemic and businesses continue to fully open back up new jobs and hires will increase which will lead to new entry from discouraged workers back into the labor force.”
Employment estimates released by TWC are produced in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. All estimates are subject to revision.
CONNECTING EMPLOYERS WITH JOB SEEKERS
Our Workforce Solutions system continues to work with all businesses as we continue the recovery process because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also offer services to job seekers so they’re able to get back to work. The Virtual Hiring Events are taking place every month, and the upcoming one is scheduled for Wednesday, March 31, starting at 9 a.m. Job Seekers can register by visiting https://bit.ly/working2021.
As of March 12, WSST has 320 jobs representing at least 643 positions available in the WorkInTexas (WIT) system.
If employers need assistance creating a job posting, they can reach out to the Business Service Representatives by dialing 956-794-6500 for the center in Laredo, 956-765-1804 for the satellite office in Zapata; or, 361-231-7071 for the satellite office in Hebbronville; if Job Seekers need assistance creating their profile and applying for a job, they can reach out a Customer Service Representative through our chat by visiting https://bit.ly/chatsouthtexas.
The Texas Labor Market & Career Information Data for February is scheduled to be released on Friday, March 26, 2021.
