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According to recent job numbers from the Texas Workforce Commission, released Friday, October 16th, 2020, more Texans found themselves unemployed in September 2020 than they did in August 2020.

Despite a month-to-month downward trend in unemployment statistics, the Texas unemployment rate jumped up from 7 percent in August 2020 to 8.3 percent in September 2020. That’s essentially the same rate that was reported in July 2020.

Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Bryan Daniel says although the unemployment rate did increase by 1.3 percent over August, Texas employers still added just under 41,000 jobs. The increase in unemployment appears to be tied to a shrinking civilian labor force.

It's not yet clear if this uptick in unemployment is the beginning of a trend or a slight bump the road as COVID-19 cases appear to have increased across the U.S., including Texas.

In Lubbock, unemployment also rose from 5.2 percent in August to 6.1 percent in September. It’s the first reported increase in Lubbock unemployment since April 2020, when the U.S. economy took a nosedive after the first round of business shutdowns.

2020 Unemployment Rates for Lubbock

March – 3.9%

April – 10%

May – 9.4%

June – 6.9%

July – 6.4%

August – 5.2%

September – 6.1%

Meanwhile, Congress remains deadlocked on a possible COVID-19 relief package that could give Texans some financial relief. It’s been 6 and a half months since the CARES Act was passed, which established the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and gave out $1,200 stimulus checks to millions of Americans.

According to TheHill.com, President Donald Trump is pressing the Republican-held Senate to compromise with Democrats on another COVID-19 relief bill that would provide a boost to the U.S. economy just in time for the November election.

According to recent polling data, President Trump could use all the help he can get in order to win another four-year term in The White House.

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