The Texas Workforce Commission reported the unemployment rate for Hockley County was 3.0 percent in December, a significant improvement from the past two years.
TWC reported the unemployment rate in December, 2021 was 4.4 percent, which was an improvement from the 7.7 percent recorded in December, 2020.
Statistics for Hockley County showed 10,963 people in the labor force, 10,629 working and just 334 unemployed in December.
That compares to 10,528 people in the labor force, 10,015 working and 642 unemployed in December, 2021.
In December, 2020, Hockley County had 10,488 people in the labor force, 9,664 working and 804 unemployed.
The COVID pandemic and the collapse of oil prices hit in the spring of 2020, resulting in a slowdown in the local economy which resulted in higher unemployment. At the end of December, 2019, the county’s unemployment rate was 2.6 percent and 10,648 people were working in local businesses and industry.
TWC reported Cochran County’s unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in December with 968 people in the labor force, 924 working and 44 unemployed.
That compares to an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent in December, 2021 when the labor force was 980 which 923 working and 57 unemployed.
In December, 2020, Cochran County’s unemployment rate was 8.4 percent with 1,065 people in the labor force, 997 working and 68 unemployed. In December, 2019, the unemployment rate was 3.4 percent.
Lamb County’s unemployment rate for December was 3.8 percent with 4,983 people in its labor force, 4,804 working and 179 unemployed. The unemployment rate for December, 2021 was also 3.8 percent with 190 people unemployed.
That compares to an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent in December, 2020 when the labor force numbered 5,171 with 4,891 people working and 280 unemployed.
Lamb County’s unemployment rate in December, 2019 was 3.3 percent.
The unemployment rate also improved in Terry County. TWC reported that county’s unemployment rate in December was 3.9 percent, down from 5.0 percent in December, 2021.
Terry County’s labor force numbered 4,395 with 4,223 people working and 172 unemployed.
In December, 2021, Terry County’s labor force totaled 4,539 with 4,311 working and 228 unemployed. That was an improvement from the December 2020 unemployment rate of 7.4 percent which was more than double the December, 2019 unemployment rate of 3.2 percent.
According to TWC, in December 2022, Texas added 29,500 positions, reaching a total of 13,705,500 nonfarm jobs in Texas. December marked the 14th consecutive record employment high in Texas, after the state first surpassed the pre-COVID level in November 2021.
The Texas seasonally adjusted unemploy-ment rate declined for the first time in three months to 3.9 percent in December, logging the first month the rate fell below 4.0 percent since February 2020.