(September 19, 2008)—The state unemployment rate rose to 5 percent in August, but local jobless rates remained unchanged at 4.8 percent in Waco and 5.2 percent in the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood area, according to figures released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission.
The Workforce Commission reports the increase compares to a 4.7 metro jobless rate in July.
The Texas unemployment rate remained below the national figure of 6.1 percent.
It's unclear what effect the current U.S. financial crisis and Hurricane Ike will have on September unemployment figures.
Midland continued to have the lowest unemployment rate in the state, at 3.1 percent.
Unemployment rates were highest in the state at 7.8 percent in the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area, 7.4 percent in Brownsville-Harlingen, and 6.7 percent in Beaumont-Port Arthur.
Preliminary August Jobless Rates (Revised July numbers in parentheses. The local figures are not seasonally adjusted)
Abilene 4.2 (4.1)
Amarillo 3.8 (3.8)
Austin-Round Rock 4.5 (4.4)
Beaumont-Port Arthur 6.7 (6.6)
Brownsville-Harlingen 7.4 (7.0)
College Station-Bryan 4.4 (4.4)
Corpus Christi 5.2 (5.1)
Dallas-Plano-Irving 5.2 (5.0)
El Paso 6.4 (6.3)
Fort Worth-Arlington 5.0 (4.9)
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown 5.0 (4.9)
Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood 5.2 (5.2)
Laredo 5.9 (5.8)
Longview 4.4 (4.5)
Lubbock 4.1 (4.3)
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 7.8 (7.8)
Midland 3.1 (3.1)
Odessa 3.7 (3.7)
San Angelo 4.4 (4.2)
San Antonio 5.0 (4.8)
Sherman-Denison 5.2 (5.4)
Texarkana 4.8 (4.7)
Tyler 5.0 (5.1)
Victoria 4.3 (4.2)
Waco 4.8 (4.8)
Wichita Falls 4.9 (4.6)