The Fayette County Record
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The Jobs Are Waiting, But Fayette Co. Labor Force is Aging Out

By Andy Behlen
The unemployment rate in Fayette County spiked dramatically in early 2020 due to economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. That followed a general downward trend in unemployment locally for the past decade. Source: Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS)/Texas Workforce Commission

Unemployment numbers in Fayette County fell in May following a months-long rise to levels not seen in a decade.

The unemployment rate in Fayette County for May was 4.6 percent. That’s better than the statewide unemployment rate of 5.9 percent in May.

Locally, the unemployment rate spiked to 6.4 percent in April of last year as the economy shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions. It fell to 4.1 percent in August of last year as the pandemic seemed to subside. But then it jumped again to over 5.5 percent in March and April 2021 as the effects of the pandemic dragged on.

Before the pandemic, the local unemployment rate hovered between 2.5 and 3 percent going back to 2018 with a low of 2.3 percent in December 2019.

Despite relatively high unemployment, local employers are struggling to find workers. “Now Hiring” signs abound in Fayette County. One of the area’s largest employers, the Dairy Farmers of America plant in Schulenburg, has been hosting a series of job fairs across Fayette County and surrounding areas in an effort to attract workers. A dwindling labor force may explain that trend.

The labor force in Fayette County has fallen nearly 15 percent from a peak of 13,388 workers in July 2014 to 11,409 in May of this year, the most recent numbers available.

The local labor force was at its lowest during the pandemic in April 2020, when only 11,045 people in the County were employed or looking for work. That was the lowest level the labor force in Fayette County has been since the year 2000 – when about 3,000 fewer people lived in the County.

In other words, there are more people living here but fewer are working or seeking work.

An aging population in Fayette County contributes to that trend. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 26.4 percent of all residents in the County are age 65 or older, compared to 12.9 percent statewide. In 2000, those numbers were 8.9 percent for Fayette County and 9.9 percent statewide. Stay tuned over the next few issues of The Fayette County Record as we investigate the causes, effects and proposals to address this issue.

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