KCBD, NewsChannel 11 Lubbock |Texas unemployment hits 22-year high at 8%
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Associated Press - September 18, 2009 10:25 AM ET
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Texas unemployment rate rose to 8% for the first time in 22 years.
The Texas Workforce Commission said Friday the jobless rate for August was up from 7.9% in July. The state also lost 62,200 nonagricultural jobs last month.
The state's unemployment rate last hit 8% in November 1987, the dying days of an oil bust that ravaged the Texas economy.
Texas was still tracking well below the national unemployment rate of 9.7%.
Leisure, construction and manufacturing were the hardest-hit industries last month, losing a combined 35,500 jobs.
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