Odessa jobless rate drops

After rising much of the year, Odessa saw its jobless rate decrease for the third consecutive month when statewide figures were released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission.

The unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent in October, down from 9.2 percent in September. It began a downward trend in August, when it hit 9.3 percent, down from a peak of 9.4 percent in July.

"I think we’re beginning to improve a little bit," said Willie Taylor, chief executive officer of Workforce Solutions Permian Basin. "We’re starting to see some hiring from some of the service industry companies."

Still, some of the drop in unemployment in October was related to seasonal school workers returning to their jobs, and others could been due to people exhausting their unemployment insurance and dropping off the rolls, Taylor said.

The November and December numbers will be crucial for the Permian Basin’s recovery from a drop in oil and gas prices that helped lead to a tripling of Odessa’s unemployment rate in less than two years, Taylor said.

"Is the industry going to hold on to people or order layoffs?" he said. "If we get past the next few months, we’re probably beginning to look up."

Mining, logging and construction jobs, which includes oil and gas, remained steady during the month. But trade, transportation and utilities sectors, along with professional and business services, each gained around 100 jobs.

The leisure and hospitality area lost 100 jobs however.

"Some of them are probably just trimming their budget," Taylor said.

Overall, Odessa added a net of 70 jobs during the month, the workforce commission reported.

The unemployment rate is still well above October 2008, when it was 3.4 percent in Odessa.

Despite the drop in unemployment, Odessa’s remained among the five highest jobless rates in the 25 metropolitan statistical areas measured by the workforce commission. Midland, which saw its unemployment rate drop from 6.1 to 5.8 percent, was third lowest in the state behind Lubbock and Amarillo.

Area counties also began to see their unemployment rates recover. Andrews County’s jobless rate dropped from 7.6 percent in September to 7.1 percent in October, while Gaines County improved from 6.8 percent to 6.2 percent.

Even Pecos and Reeves counties, which have been particularly hard hit by unemployment, saw some improvement in October. Reeves County improved from 13.9 percent in September to 13.8 percent in October, while Pecos County went from 11.6 percent to 11.1 percent.

As a whole, the Permian Basin’s unemployment rate dropped from 7.9 percent in September to 7.6 percent in October.

The statewide unemployment rate inched up to 8.3 percent in October while the state bucked a yearlong trend by adding jobs, officials said Friday.

The state’s jobless rate rose from 8.2 percent in September, but the increase in jobs by 41,700 from a month ago was just the second jump in the past year, according to workforce commission figures.

The increase followed a September estimate of 10.3 million total jobs, the lowest in nearly three years.

"In October, the Texas job market regained some lost ground experienced over the past several months, although it is too soon to indicate a trend," commission chairman Tom Pauken said.

The education and health services sector had the biggest increase, adding 14,900 jobs. Professional and business services added 10,800 jobs.

The construction industry took the biggest hit, with job losses totaling 9,400.

Initial claims for unemployment jumped to 107,555 from 98,725 in September while the number of continuing claims dropped slightly from 1.2 million to 1.1 million.

The number of unemployed Texans topped 1 million for the first time in the current economic downturn.

"Reports of job gains in October are good news, and certainly better than the alternative, but we remain concerned about the many Texans who still cannot find work," said Ronny Congleton, the commissioner representing labor.

Texas continued to track well below the national unemployment rate of 10.2 percent.

Unemployment rates are adjusted for seasonal trends in hiring and firing, which most economists believe gives a better picture of the job market.

Without the seasonal adjustment, Texas’ unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent in September.

The following are the preliminary October jobless rates for specific areas of Texas, with revised September numbers in parentheses. The local figures are not seasonally adjusted.

>> Ector 9.0 (9.2)

>> Andrews 7.1 (7.6)

>> Borden 5.1 (5.9)

>> Crane 9.6 (9.5)

>> Dawson 8.0 (8.7)

>> Gaines 6.2 (6.8)

>> Glasscock 5.4 (5.2)

>> Howard 7.1 (7.5)

>> Loving 9.6 (11.5)

>> Martin 4.7 (4.9)

>> Midland 5.8 (6.1)

>> Pecos 11.1 (11.6)

>> Reeves 13.8 (13.9)

>> Terrell 7.3 (7.8)

>> Upton 5.6 (5.6)

>> Ward 8.5 (8.6)

>> Winkler 9.0 (9.0)