Live Well, Dream Small (Job search: month 5)

Texas unemployment rate shoots up to 6 percent

AUSTIN — The Texas unemployment rate jumped to 6.0 percent in December and the state lost jobs for the third time in four months, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday.

The unemployment rate was a sharp jump from 5.7 percent in November and 4.2 percent a year ago. It was the first time the state's jobless rate hit 6 percent since 2004, said commission labor representative Ronny Congleton.

The state lost 25,700 nonagricultural jobs in December, the second consecutive monthly drop after the commission revised November figures from a gain of 7,300 jobs to a loss of 11,300. The monthly job loss in September was the first in more than a year, according to the commission.

"Our state's economy has been fairly resilient during these months of economic uncertainty, but the national economic storm has reached Texas," commission chairman Tom Pauken said. "The challenge we face now is to minimize the impact of the national trends by continuing to promote our strong business climate and address the skills needs of Texas employers."

The job losses hit nearly every sector, with the biggest drops coming in trade, transportation and utilities (8,100 jobs) and manufacturing (8,000). The falling prices of oil and natural gas appeared to hit natural resources and mining, which lost 5,100 jobs. Construction dropped 3,300 jobs.

The only sector to gain jobs was leisure and hospitality, with a jump of 3,800. The catchall category — other services — gained 1,600 jobs.

Despite the widespread job losses, Texas still compared favorably to the national numbers. The unemployment rate remained below the U.S. average of 7.2 percent. According to commission figures, Texas has a net gain of 153,600 jobs over the past year compared with losses of 2.6 million jobs nationwide.

"Our state leaders have laid a strong foundation for Texas as a business-friendly state with low taxes and less regulation, and that foundation will be crucial in the months ahead," said Andres Alcantar, the commission's public representative.

The commission estimated that 711,800 people were actively looking for work in December, up from 676,000 in November.

Unemployment rates are adjusted for seasonal trends in hiring and firing, which most economists believe gives a better picture of the job market.

Without the seasonal adjustment, the Texas unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent in December from 5.6 percent in November and 4.3 percent a year ago.

Following are the preliminary December jobless rates for local areas in Texas, with revised November numbers in parentheses. The local figures are not seasonally adjusted.

Austin-Round Rock 5.2 (5.0)

___

January 23, 2009 - 11:46 a.m. Copyright 2009, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Damn. Austin is a city where 36% of the people have a Bachelor's degree or higher. A little quick math says that if roughly 712,000 people are looking for work that about 256,000 of them have college degrees. That said, it's time for America's brightest to dream small. Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Dana and we talked at length about how hard it is to find a job that harnesses your potential. When I look for work now, I apply for entry-level positions that almost always pay less than 30,000. These openings are mostly clerical positions that only "prefer" a degree. Now I know that it's possible that when I don't get these jobs it's not necessarily because there's something wrong with my resume. It means that one of the other 250,000 people that applied "fit their needs" a little better. My generation seems to be the generation of dreaming big what with our Obamarama and our iPods, but with this economy it's not unusual to see people like me with advanced degrees earning $8.25/hour working low stakes part-time jobs. While jobs like this can be fulfilling, it's unlikely that they lead to careers. Perhaps all of this strife will lead to a surging force of entrepreneurs. Maybe people with greater aspirations than myself will turn this economy around through their own gumption and innovative spirit. But it's hard not to feel that the odds are stacked against you when the competition is in the hundreds of thousands.