Last Month’s State Unemployment Rate Down A Bit

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas unemployment rate slipped to 5.2 percent in September.   

The Texas Workforce Commission on Friday announced that compares to the August statewide jobless rate of 5.3 percent. The nationwide unemployment rate for September was 5.9 percent, a six-year low.

TWC officials in Austin say the Texas economy added 36,400 seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs last month. The seasonally adjusted civilian labor force population in Texas topped 13 million for the first time in September.

The Midland area had the lowest September jobless rate statewide at 2.6 percent. Unemployment in neighboring Odessa stood at 3.1 percent last month.

The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area had the state's highest jobless rate in September at 8.5 percent.