Laredo unemployment slightly up ...

Our friends at the Texas Workforce Commission in Austin released statewide unemployment numbers Friday morning.
Laredo's unemployment rate now sits at 7.5 percent as of March 2009, which is a one-tenth percentile bump from February's 7.4 rate. In March 2008, before the economic collapse, our unemployment rate was at 4.9 percent.
As some people within the Laredo business community have said since January, they would not be surprised at all to see our unemployment rate hit 8 percent before stabilizing there for a little bit or begin to climb back down.
LMT staff writer Zach Lindsey's story on a number of positive business and job points offers good news toward new business looking at Laredo and bringing in more jobs.
Let's hope that unemployment rate tops out soon, then begins its slow trickle down ... meaning more people taking home steady paychecks and having discretionary income to spend.
Of course, that also could bring more money to pay down debt, too.
Just another view.

-- Joe Rutland