The Bryan-College Station economy modestly strengthened in the first months of 2021, Texas A&M research economists announced earlier this week.
Monthly findings shared by Texas A&M’s Private Enterprise Research Center indicate the local unemployment rate in February was at 5.7%, down considerably from the heights of the pandemic. The report said local nonfarm employment increased by 0.4% to 118,300 people employed in February. That figure is 5.3% lower than it was in February 2020, the last month before the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The report also quantified the fiscal effects of February’s winter storms; local real taxable sales decreased 14.3% from January to February, and were 14% lower than the same month last year.
The local unemployment rate, at 5.7%, is the third-lowest in Texas, trailing only Amarillo at 5.1% and the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area at 5.6%. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and Beaumont-Port Arthur metro areas had the highest unemployment rates in the state, at 11.9% and 11.7%, respectively.
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PERC’s report concluded with monthly travel figures from Easterwood Airport that suggest the airline industry is making progress toward pre-pandemic normalcy. More travelers flew out of Easterwood in March 2021 (4,627) than in March 2020 (4,229), and the March 2021 figure was 63% of the March 2019 figure. In January 2021, 2,672 travelers departed from Easterwood, or about 40% of the number from January 2019.