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Brazos Valley seeing an increase in unemployment rates

Texas A&M Private Enterprise Research Center have released the latest Economic Indictors report.

BRYAN, Texas — Economic experts in the Brazos Valley see an increase in unemployment rates in the area.

The Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation and the Texas A&M Private Enterprise Research Center have published the January 2021 Economic Indicators. The new report includes the latest on the Bryan/College Station business-cycle index from November 2020.

The Bryan/College Station area has seen it's business-cycle index decrease by 1.6 percent from October to November 2020. Previously, October's index performance showed a slight growth after months of decline.

The decline caused an increase in unemployment rates in the Brazos Valley. The unemployment rate for November 2020 grew to 5.9 percent from 4.8 percent in October. Bryan/College Station has the second-lowest unemployment rate among Texas metros, behind Amarillo with 5.6 percent.

According to the Economic Indicators, the state unemployment rate also rose from 6.9 percent to 8.1 percent. The report also mentioned the United States' unemployment rate, which is available up to December 2020, and it shows it stayed at 6.7 percent. 

However, the latest Brazos Valley report shows local nonfarm employment did grow slightly by 0.23 percent. Nonfarm employment increased from 118,000 workers in October to 119,100. This number is 4.9 percent lower than it was in November 2019.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission, unemployment insurance claims have continued to rise. The report is able to access data from each week up to Jan. 2.

From mid-September to the end of November, weekly claims remained below 250. There were two weeks in December when claims went over 250. The week of Jan. 2 saw the highest number of claims in months with 288.

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