New unemployment claims in Katy area on the decline

By R. Hans Miller | News Editor
Posted 8/18/20

New unemployment claims appear to be on a steady decrease over the last several weeks with all three Katy area counties seeing reductions in claims, which tracks with a statewide trend.

According …

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New unemployment claims in Katy area on the decline

Posted

New unemployment claims appear to be on a steady decrease over the last several weeks with all three Katy area counties seeing reductions in claims, which tracks with a statewide trend.

According to a report from the Texas Workforce Commission, all three counties have seen improvements in the number of new unemployment assistance claims received in the last several weeks. July 4 numbers show Fort Bend County with 2,206 new claims compared to a reported 1,144 this Aug. 8. Harris County saw a similar decline with 21,223 claims July 4 and 9,197 claims Aug. 8. Waller County saw improvements as well with 178 new claims July 4, but only 85 new claims Aug. 8.

Highs for the year for Fort Bend, Harris and Waller counties came in at 8,824 claims, 52,468 claims and 414 claims respectively on April 4 when the state hit its highest number of new claims in a single week at 277,714. Statewide, that number has crept slowly down to 44,706.

According to the TWC, the most impacted type of businesses in the Gulf Coast region which includes Katy, Fulshear, Brookshire, Pattison and Houston are restaurants, travel services, temp agencies and schools. About 57.5% of claimants are men with the remainder being women or an unstated gender.

Unemployment, Texas Workforce Commission