Department of Numbers

El Paso, Texas Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for El Paso fell 0.3 percentage points in August 2021 to 6.1%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than the Texas rate. The unemployment rate in El Paso peaked in April 2020 at 14.8% and is now 8.7 percentage points lower. You can also compare El Paso unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate August 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
National 5.2% -0.2 -3.2
Texas 5.9% -0.3 -1.0
El Paso 6.1% -0.3 -0.8
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with August 2021 data as September metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: El Paso, Texas, National

El Paso, Texas monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

El Paso, Texas Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in El Paso peaked in April 2020 at 51,532. There are now 29,074 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. El Paso employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in El Paso, Texas) is also available.

Unemployed Persons August 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
El Paso 22,458 -848 -3,177

Number of Unemployed Persons

El Paso, Texas Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Texas
Unemployment Rate		 El Paso
Unemployment Rate		 El Paso
Unemployed
September
2021		 4.8% — — —
August
2021		 5.2% 5.9% 6.1% 22,458
July
2021		 5.4% 6.2% 6.4% 23,306
June
2021		 5.9% 6.5% 7.2% 26,348
May
2021		 5.8% 6.6% 7.4% 27,135
April
2021		 6.1% 6.7% 7.7% 28,289
March
2021		 6.0% 6.9% 7.9% 29,132
February
2021		 6.2% 6.9% 8.1% 29,852
January
2021		 6.3% 6.8% 8.4% 31,130
December
2020		 6.7% 6.9% 7.7% 28,526
November
2020		 6.7% 7.2% 8.2% 30,437
October
2020		 6.9% 7.3% 7.5% 27,837

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

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