As Texas saw record-breaking gains in its labor force last month, Texoma saw steady conditions in its labor market. The Texas Workforce Commission recent released its monthly job report that showed the unemployment rate and civilian labor force remained steady for June.
The report noted that the state broke its record for the highest civilian labor force in June when it added 10,800 workers, bringing the total labor force to about 15.85 million workers. The report also noted that the state has added 198,300 jobs over the course of the past year, with an annual growth rate of 1.4 percent.
“The increase in the civilian labor force and the drop in the unemployment rate highlight continued strength in the Texas economy,” TWC Chairman Bryan Daniel said. “TWC provides a number of tools for both job seekers and employers as we continue to grow the Texas labor force.”
Locally, conditions remained steady from May to June with the unemployment rate remaining at 3.7 percent. By comparison, the rate was half a percent lower than it was in June 2024. The total labor force for the region grew during that time from about 71,400 to 72,400.
Workforce Solutions Texoma Executive Director Janie Bates said conditions have remained steady for the region, but she said she has seen positive signs in the market, including strong interest from both job seekers and employers. During one of its recent job fairs, WST saw more than 400 job seekers attend.
“That means there is a lot of people out there looking for a job, but we also had anywhere from 40 to 50 employers at each of those job fairs,” Bates said. “So, we know people are still looking for people to hire.”
These employers ran the gamut from the service industry and local manufacturing to a law enforcement agency in Gainesville, Bates said.
With the recent opening of GlobalWafer’s new silicon wafer production site, and the upcoming opening of Texas Instrument’s new semiconductor plant, Bates said she has not seen a significant impact on the local job market directly from the two plants.
“Of course, TI is not in full production yet, but Global is in production, and they have hired pretty much most of their people,” she said. “I think they … have hired a lot of people, and they are still taking applications and hiring because they will continue to ramp up their production.”
While the two large employers have not had a major impact yet, Bates said she believes other growth in the area can be connected to the companies. Other businesses have come into the market alongside TI and GlobalWafers, including services that are targeted toward the production plants and their employees. Specifically, Bates said some of the service industry growth seen in the area could be tied to the region’s growing semiconductor industry.
“You keep seeing new things coming into our area,” she said. “We continue to see more restaurants open. We continue to see more people coming into the area that want to start a business or somebody who may be coming in as a vendor to one of the big semi conductor plant. So, I think those are all good indicators.”
For the month of June, the Sherman-Denison area maintained unemployment rates below both state and national averages of 4.1 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.
