Still hiring: Amarillo holds lowest jobless rate in TX, but employers need workers

The Texas Workforce Commission revealed in its August Texas Labor Market Review that Amarillo for July had the lowest unemployment ranking of the Texas Metro Areas, at 3.1 percent. According to Workforce Solutions Panhandle, although we do see low unemployment rates in our community, we are seeing a rise in employers seeking employees.

"The low unemployment rate just identifies individuals who are in between jobs or having an easy transition into employment, because there is a lot of availability right now in positions for individuals seeking a job. On the other hand, there is not enough job seekers to fulfill all the positions that are currently being advertised and posted in the area," said Trent Morris, director for Workforce Solutions Panhandle.

According to the Texas Labor Market, the state of Texas had a 72,800 gain in jobs for the month of July, with Total Nonfarm employment setting a series high for the ninth consecutive month by reaching 13,513,100 positions. The Texas Labor Market stated in a news release: "Since January 2022, employment grew by 406,800 positions, which marked the most jobs added for this time frame in series history. To date, employment exceeded the February 2020 pre-pandemic job count by 546,900 positions. Private sector employment grew by 66,600 jobs over the month. Total nonfarm jobs grew by 736,700 annually, while the annual growth rate stood at 5.8 percent."

Morris said that this is also reflected in the city of Amarillo and can be largely attributed to the addition of new companies being established in the area.

"We are seeing that here in our area, the job growth is growing faster than the labor force, and that is why it doesn't seem like there is an abundance of job seekers, because we are growing the number of jobs (from new and established area businesses) faster than we are growing individuals seeking employment," Morris said. "We need to increase the labor force to meet the needs of business in the region to have full employment and have those business fully staffed — that's the goal, and then retain that labor force and that growth to allow for more business to establish themselves in the area."

A graphic shows the Economic Profile for the Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area including Oldham, Potter, Randall, Carson and Armstrong counties for the month of July 2022, in comparison to the previous month and the annual change. In Civilian Labor Force, the annual change was an increase of 1,488. In terms of those employed, the yearly change was an increase of 2,582, while those unemployed showed a yearly change as a decrease of 1,094. Amarillo MSA's unemployment rate of 3.1 percent went down from 3.2 percent in June, and 4.0 percent from July of last year.

The Workforce Solutions director said some of the ways that the area can grow our labor force is to allow for more individuals to move to the area and relocate for the positions and retain graduates from the area to be trained and move directly into a local position as a part of our workforce.

As a part of the effort to gain individuals for the area workforce, Workforce Solutions Panhandle will be inviting larger local employers to attend network transition events in an effort to recruit veterans and their families to the region to fill skilled positions.

"Individuals seeking a position need to know that this is a great time to seek employment in the Amarillo area, and if they have chosen in the last several years to sit out of the labor force, now might be a great time to reenter it simply because of the amount of opportunities that our area is offering," Morris said.

For more information or if you are currently seeking employment, follow Workforce Solutions Panhandle on Facebook to view their job offers, or visit the upcoming Amarillo Job Fair, to be held Oct. 4 at the Amarillo Civic Center.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo holds low unemployment rate in Texas as workforce needs grow