By KRWG News
Texas – The state unemployment rate dropped to 8 percent in November, the first decrease in Texas in 16 months.
The Texas Workforce Commission said Friday the jobless rate fell from 8.3 percent in October.
The last monthly decrease came in June 2008, when the rate fell to 4.4 percent from 4.5 percent the previous month.
Texas added 17,300 nonagricultural jobs in November for a total of 70,000 jobs over two months.
The state's jobless rate is still tracking well below the national average of 10 percent.
Workforce commission chairman Tom Pauken (PAW'-ken) says job growth and a dip in the unemployment rate are positive signs for the Texas economy.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.