Austin’s unemployment rate went up last month.
It hit a three-year low in April of 5.5 percent, but grew last month to 5.8 percent.
According to the Workforce Solutions Capital Area Workforce Board, that increase is the largest the Austin area has seen since June 2011 (6.7 percent in May 2011 to 7.6 percent in June 2011).
“Going up three tenths of a percent – it’s never positive to go up, we’d love to see the continued decreases that we’ve seen over the last few years – but we still created 2,000 jobs in the month of May. So while it may not be the number that we’re hoping for, it’s definitely positive and we continue to encourage employers to look at new job opportunities locally,” said Tiffany Daniels, Communication Coordinator for Workforce Solutions Capital Area Workforce Board.
Austin’s unemployment rate was still down from 6.6 percent in May of last year.
The state unemployment rate remained the same from April to May at 6.9 percent. Texas saw job growth for the 22nd consecutive month. The Texas Workforce Commission says the private sector gained more than 15,000 positions.
“Over the past year, our private sector employment in Texas has grown by 3.3 percent. By comparison, private sector employment has grown nationwide by just 1.8 percent over the past year,” said Andres Alcantar, TWC Chairman.
The national unemployment rate went up slightly last month, to 8.2 percent.
