Texas Unemployment

The Texas Civilian Labor Force is the largest in the nation. It involves more than 12,100,000 individuals. The Texas unemployment rate has remained at either 8.2 percent or 8.3 percent. This stable level of Texas unemployment has meant that the Texas Unemployment Commission has only had to supply Texas unemployment benefits to approximately one million people each month for each of the six months between March 2010 and August 2010. This six month period is the most recent period for which information is available.

More than 10 million of the positions which the Texas Unemployment Commission may be held responsible for involve Non-farm Wage and Salary positions. The Government sector is the single largest of these sectors, however since government jobs are relatively immune from the risk of high involuntary turnover, these positions present a minimum risk of contributing to the Texas unemployment rate. Behind government jobs the next segment that employs the most Texans is the Education and Health Care Services sector, although these districts also have a low risk of contributing to Texas unemployment.

The third largest sector of the Texas economy presents the largest risk of increasing the responsibility of the Texas Unemployment Commission. This sector is the Professional and Business Services sector. However, this sector seems to be relatively safe from contributing to an increase in Texas unemployment levels, possessing year over year growth in four of the six months between March and August 2010.

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