According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, Texas employers experienced 47,100 job losses in March, 38,800 of those job losses were concentrated in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The article said:
Texas employers cut their payrolls by another 47,100 jobs in March, while the jobless rate rose to 6.7 percent from 6.5 percent the month before, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday. But the state’s jobless rate in March remained well below the 8.5 percent national average. In March, the biggest job losses at the state level hit construction, which shed 18,800 jobs; manufacturing, which lost 11,900; and professional and business services, which lost 11,600.
Dallas-Fort Worth’s unemployment rate is 7 percent, up from 6.9 percent in February. At this rate we could see the Dallas-Fort Worth unemployment rate reach 10 percent which would have huge repercussions for Texas’ economy. As the unemployment rate rises, Dallas-Fort Worth may experience a jump in foreclosures and personal bankruptcies that break previous records. Our state has depended heavily on the industries being hit hardest, construction and manufacturing especially. Many companies in these sectors are facing bankruptcy and choosing to implement massive job losses as they restructure their debt. Our state officials must prepare for more job losses and retrain those workers facing job losses in contracting industries.