Waco could not escape the hiring malaise that settled over Texas last month, its jobless rate increasing to 6.6%, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday.
Metropolitan Statistical Areas statewide felt the pain and almost all watched their jobless rate increase at least a percentage point between October and November. Texas saw its non-seasonally adjusted rate leap from 6.7% to 8.0% month-to-month. Its seasonally adjusted rate hit 8.1%, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
The Waco MSA, which includes Falls and McLennan counties, suffered with the rest of Texas, but its 6.6% mark is seventh-best among 27 MSAs. Beaumont-Port Arthur, Corpus Christi, Odessa and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission are staggering along at 11.8%, 10.0%, 11.4% and 12.5%, respectively.