Unemployment up in Hopkins, workforce commission says

Northeast Texas has seen a spike in unemployment, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. 

In the Northeast Texas region, which includes Hopkins County as well as surrounding counties such as Delta, Hunt, Rains, Wood and others, 7,499 people have claimed unemployment as of April 30, according to TWC data. 

Of these, only approximately 6,000 are eligible, TWC said. Claimants in the region are approximately evenly split between male and female, with 54% female and 46% male. 

The largest industry from which unemployment claimants hail is full-service restaurants, followed by general medical and surgical in second place and trailer manufacturing in third. 

The East Texas region, which is nearby and only approximately 100 miles from Hopkins County, has much higher unemployment claims at 25,536 as of April 30, according to TWC data. As many of 5,000 of those claimants may be ineligible, TWC said. The largest industry with unemployment in the East Texas region is also full-service restaurants.

The region hit hardest is the Gulf Coast with 297,000 claims, North Central Texas with 117,000 claims and the Dallas area with 107,000 unemployment claims, TWC stated. 

Hopkins County has had 755 unemployment claims as of April 30, TWC stated, with trailer manufacturing being the highest source of unemployment claims. Unemployment was at 3.2% countywide in March and February and a 4.2% rate in April, according to the TWC April report. 

“Our unemployment numbers have gone up in April and will probably go up again in May,” said Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom. “Hopkins County has been lucky. Those [unemployment] numbers are not astronomical. But people want to go back to work and we need to get our economy started.