Some encouraging economic numbers from the Texas Workforce Commission: Texas’ unemployment rate continues to trend in the right direction, dropping from 8.1 percent in November 2011 to 7.8 percent in December 2011. This marks the first time since July 2009 that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has tracked at such a reduced level.
In addition, the Commission also reported that the state’s economy added over 20,000 net new jobs for the month of December, bringing this year’s job creation grand total to over 200,000 net new jobs. This job growth occurred in 8 of the 11 major industries in Texas.
Texas’ economy has now seen positive job creation territory for the past twenty consecutive months.
* Bonus: An interesting statistic not mentioned in the Commission’s latest press release-this month’s unemployment figure means that Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has been at or below the national average for 60 consecutive months or five years! Clearly, there is something special happening in the Lone Star State.
-James Quintero