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About 41,800 jobs have been lost in Cameron and Hildalgo counties, which after the COVID-19 economic lockdown has the highest unemployment rate in years.
Both counties have unemployment rates at about 17%, the Valley Star reported. Willacy County's unemployment rate is also around 17%, while Starr County is at 24.3%.
“I’ve never seen it this high,” Pat Hobbs, executive director of Cameron Workforce Solutions, told the Star. “Even when it was bad, the unemployment was at 12 percent.”
Hobbs told the Star the rate should start decreasing.
"We expect things to start turning around now that they let the businesses open,” Hobbs said. “The restaurants are coming back up and they have a large portion of the workforce."
Harlingen Economic Development Corp. CEO Raudel Garza had a similar assessment for the Star.
“As businesses start opening up, people are going to get back to work so I think we’ll see an uptick but how much is unknown at this time,” Garza said.
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