Austin-Travis County saw its unemployment rate jump from 3.7% in March to 12.4% in April, after 84,222 residents sought jobless benefits as the coronavirus pandemic continued to cause job loss throughout the country.
The numbers, published May 22 by the Texas Workforce Commission, also showed that unemployment in the Austin-Round Rock metro shot up to 12.2% in April, up from 3.8% in March. Travis County’s and the metro’s jobless rates remained below those of Texas—13%—and the country—14.4%.
According to the commission, the leisure and hospitality industries experienced, by far, the greatest impact, with 58,700 jobs lost, followed by education and health services, with 19,300 lost. Roughly 5,300 government jobs were also cut. Financial services was the only industry to see no impact from the pandemic, per TWC data.
Much of the economy was shut down through the entirety of April, the only such month thus far during the pandemic where that was the case. Shutdowns in Austin began March 17, and by May 1, the state began a partial reopening of many businesses, such as restaurants, movie theaters and retail; later, this expanded to barbershops, hair salons and gyms. As of May 22, restaurants can open their dining rooms to 50% capacity, and bars can open to 25% capacity.
