JULY JOBS REPORT SHOWS LITTLE MOVEMENT

The July report on jobs came out this past week, but there were only fractional changes from the June report in most cases. At the statewide level, the unadjusted total reflected an increase of 31, 700 jobs from the previous month. This worked out to an increase of less than three-tenths of one percent. Looking at the large cities, only San Antonio and Bexar County recorded a gain and, as noted above, it was a fraction of a percent and it amounted to only 400 additional jobs. The biggest losers were in this group, as El Paso showed a 1.8% decrease in jobs and Hidalgo County and McAllen were right behind with a 1.4% loss. Laredo and Webb County also recorded small losses from their June total.
Taking a look at the cities and counties in the Middle Rio Grande region, there was one big winner; Kinney County came in with a gain of 3.6% as it added some 50 jobs for the July report. Dimmit County also rang up a gain, but the increase of 8 jobs barely registered on the meter. Val Verde, Maverick and Uvalde Counties all showed minor losses in the range of 100 jobs. Zavala County had the biggest percentage loss at 1% as harvest time ended.
The lack of movement in the jobs report was pretty much in line with what has been happening at the national level and how the stock market has been performing lately. We did have the “panic of the week” over the dismal home sales figures, but what did the prophets of doom expect? A significant amount of demand was sucked up in the tax credit program when quite a few people took advantage of this tax break before it ended. I am amazed that the powers that be and all their super computers were not able get a better take on the looming decrease in home sales. Instead, the headlines blasted out in a panic mode with the message that the decline was far worse than anyone expected and the markets reacted accordingly. If you look at home sales and new home construction across the country, there are probably five states that still have significant problems. There are also quite a few pockets around the country with positive movement in housing and one of them happens to be right here in our neighborhood.
In any ...