Cross Timbers Business Report, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 1988 Page: 4

                                
Local unemployment
moves downward
Erath County's level of employment
more than kept pace with movement in the
civilian labor force as the rate of unemployment
moved downward between July and September.
The overall employment picture of the Cross
Timbers area strengthened over the past three
months as all five counties showed lower rates of
idleness than in the same period one year ago.
In Erath County the jobless rate moved
from 5.7 percent of the labor force in July to 4.8
percent in August to 4.3 percent in September.
These rates compare favorably to the 5.3 percent
average reported in the third quarter of 1987.
Bosque County's unemployment ratio
dropped from 4.3 percent in July to 3.5 percent
in August, then rebounded to 4.0 percent in
September. The rate of Joblessness for this
county averaged 5.3 percent during the same
three months of last year.
Comanche County also noted an uneven
jobless pattern as the unemployment ratio
moved from 6.1 percent in July to 5.7 percent in
August, then back to 6.1 percent by the
quarter's end. These figures compare to an
average of 7.3 percent for the third quarter of
1987.
Eastland County's jobless figure began
the third quarter at 6.1 percent, and swelled to
7.1 percent by September. The unemployment
ratio averaged 7.7 percent in the same three
months of last year.
Hamilton County noted a decline in
unemployment from 3.8 percent in July to 3.3
percent in August, then marked an advance to
3.7 percent in September. In the third quarter
Department of Social Sciences
Tarleton State University
Stephenville, Texas 76402

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
LL
7.0
"i
,        ".-        \   /   ,--*
of 1987 this county's jobless statistic averaged
4.5 percent.
JS unemployment steady
The United States unemployment rate
remained virtually unchanged in the third quar-
ter, while Texas' rate moved higher. Both rates
remain below year earlier levels.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics, the jobless rate for the United States
jumped from 5.4 percent in July to 5.6 percent
in August, then fell back to 5.4 percent in
September. The total level of employment con-
tinued to grow at approximately the same rate as
the civilian labor force, as slow to negative
growth in manufacturing was offset by an ad-
vance in service sector employment. This year's
third quarter unemployment statistic compares
favorably the 6.0 percent posted for last year's
July-September period.
A rising third quarter jobless ratio re-
flected some weakening in the Texas economy,
as unemployment moved from 6.3 percent in
July to 6.8 percent in August to 7.0 percent in
September.

NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT NO. 133