Some Area Jobless Rates Decline

EAST TEXAS – Unemployment in Tyler and Longview continues to drop. The Texas Workforce Commission reports the state’s unemployment rate stood at 4% for the second straight month. That’s just below the national jobless figure of 4.1%. Tyler has both of them beat. Tyler’s July unemployment rate fell from 3.9% in June to 3.7% last month. A year ago it was 4.1%. Longview’s unemployment fell from 4.4% in June to 4.3% last month. It was 5.2% a year ago. Texas added about 23,500 seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs in July, marking 25 consecutive months of employment growth in the state.