Franklin and Hopkins Counties continued to have the lowest unemployment rates in the Northeast Texas Workforce Development Area in November 2021. Eight of the nine counties did have unemployment rates of less than 6% for the 11th month of the year, giving the Northeast Texas WDA an overall 4.9% unemployment rate, which is just above the state average of 4.5% unemployment last month. In fact, only three of the counties – Franklin, Hopkins and Delta – in the NET WDA had unemployment rates below the state average for November 2021.
According to according to the Local Area Unemployment Statistics released Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, on Texas Workforce Commission on the Texas Labor Market Information website, November 2021 was the sixth straight month Franklin County has had the lowest unemployment rate in the WDA. Surprisingly, unemployment rose from 4.7% in May 2021 to 5 in June 2021, only to drop down to 4.2% in August 2021, and has continued dipping, down to 4% in September, 3.8% in October 2021 and 3.5% last month in Franklin County. That’s still not quite as good as the pre-pandemic November 2019 unemployment rate of 3.1%.County Civilian Labor
Force (CFL)Employed Unemployed Unemployment
Rate (%)BOWIE 39,254 37,260 1,994 5.1 CASS 11,935 11,247 688 5.8 DELTA 2,394 2,288 106 4.4 FRANKLIN 5,269 5,082 187 3.5 HOPKINS 17,473 16,820 653 3.7 LAMAR 24,046 22,874 1,172 4.9 MORRIS 4,424 4,029 395 8.9 RED RIVER 5,124 4,844 280 5.5 TITUS 13,167 12,566 601 4.6 Workforce
Development
Area (WDA) Total123,086 117,010 6,072 4.9%
Hopkins County’s November 2021 unemployment rate was 3.7%, which is still slightly higher than the historically low pre-pandemic rates of 2019 and January-March 2020. Hopkins County’s unemployment rate in 2019 dipped to 2.7% in April and May; the highest unemployment rate posted for Hopkins County in 2019 was 3.6% in January. The lowest unemployment rate for Hopkins in 2020 was the 3.1% recorded in January and February of 2020. The unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in March2020 as the pandemic rolled in and spiked to 7.8% in April due to the mandatory shutdown of all except essential businesses in April.
In November 2021, 3.7% of the Hopkins County labor force was unemployed, down slightly from 3.9% in October, and still only 0.6% more than in the first 2 months (pre-pandemic) of 2020. That factors in a rise in the civilian labor force from 17,423 in October 2021 to 17,473 in November; 76 additional people went to work in November than the 16,744 employed in October, leaving 653 without jobs (26 less unemployed in November 2021 than the month before).
Nearby Delta County had the next lowest November 2021 unemployment rate of 4.4%, down from 4.7% the month before and 5.3% in November 2020, but 1% more than in November 2019.
Titus County’s unemployment rate dropped from 4.8% in October 2021 to 4.6 in November 2021, which is lower than the 6.2% reported in November 2020, but still 1.1% more than in November 2019.
The unemployment rate in Titus County in November 2021 was 4.9%, down from 5.1% the month before and 6% in November 2020, but higher than the November 2019 unemployment rate of 3.1%
Although there were more people unemployed in Bowie County in November 2021 than one month before, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.1%. That’s due to the fact that the CLF increased by 318, and 302 more people gained employment. The unemployment rate in November 2020 was 6.5%; at that time, Bowie County 542 more people were unemployed and the CFL was 311 people fewer as well. Bowie’s unemployment rate in November 2019 was 3.7.
Cass County’s unemployment rate for November 2021 was 5.8%, down slightly from 5.9% in October 2021 and considerably from the 8.2% unemployment rate of November 2020. The pre-pandemic November unemployment rate was 3.9% in 2019.
Red River County’s unemployment rate rose slightly from 5.4% in October 2021 to 5.5% November 2021, both moths were down from the 6.2% unemployment rate reported in November 2020 and 4.3% in November 2019.
Morris County continued to have the highest unemployment rate of 8.9% in November 2021, which is still better than the 9.3% reported just one month before and far better than the 13.6% reported during November 2020 but still 3.6% higher than November. 2019.
