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Longview area unemployment numbers rise
May’s unemployment figures for the Longview area reached their highest level of the past decade during last month, according to Texas Workforce Commission figures released Friday.
The Longview metro area of Gregg, Rusk and Upshur counties had an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent in May with 7,623 people on unemployment rolls, the commission reported. The last time the unemployment rate in May was that high was in 2003 when it also reached 6.9 percent.
That year the state said the there were 6,760 people unemployed in the three county area. The Longview Metropolitan Statistical Area unemployment rate matched the state rate of 6.9 percent in May but was considerably below the national unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, officials reported.
Gregg County’s unemployment rate in May stood at 6.8 percent with 4,476 county residents classified as being unemployed.
The U.S. Steel plant in Lone Star, Trinity Industries plants in the Longview area, LeTourneau Technologies and other major area employers announced layoffs in the first five months of 2009.
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