County employment numbers improve

Sep. 22—Henderson County had more people on the job in August than the previous month and a significant improvement in the unemployment rate Texas Workforce Commission reports said.

The county rate slipped from 5.6% to 5% during the period. In August, the seasonally adjusted Texas unemployment rate was 5.9 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from July.

Texas has added a total of 681,000 jobs since August 2020.

"The continued decrease in the unemployment rate and the positive job growth is good news for Texas," said Bryan Daniel, TWC Chairman. "The demand for middle skills jobs, those requiring less than a bachelor's degree, but more than a high school diploma, continues to grow and TWC is committed to ensuring the state's workforce has the tools needed to succeed in these high demand jobs."

Henderson County had 35,716 on the job in August after 35,490 the month before. The number unemployed dropped from 2,082 to 1,864.

"Our Texas workforce is resilient and opportunities to advance your career or start a new one continue to grow in our state," said Julian Alvarez, TWC Commissioner Representing Labor. "Thanks to TWC programs like skills training through Metrix Learning, Texans have access to over 5,000 free courses to learn or refine skills to land the new jobs created each month in Texas."

The Workforce Solutions of East Texas Athens is located at 205 North Murchison Street. Their phone number is 903-6773531.

Employment estimates released by TWC are produced in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The following lists Henderson and its bordering counties, their August unemployment rate followed by the rate for July.

—Anderson, 4.6, 5.5

—Ellis, 4.6, 4.8

—Henderson, 5.0, 5.6

—Kaufman, 4.7, 5.2

—Navarro, 4.9, 5.5

—Van Zandt, 4.4, 4.9