Maverick County Reaches 16.3% Unemployment Rate in December 2020, Second Highest in Texas and Fourth Highest in United States
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2021
The United States Department of Labor released the national unemployment figures for the month of December 2020 and Maverick County, Texas recorded a 16.3% unemployment rate, the second highest in Texas and fourth highest in the United States.
Not only is the COVID-19 pandemic hammering the residents of Maverick County, but so is the high unemployment rate and the lack of jobs in the border county.
Only the County of Starr (Rio Grande City) has a higher unemployment rate of 18.5% in Texas than Maverick County, registering the highest unemployment rate in the United States.
Coming in second in the United States with the highest unemployment rate in December 2020 is Imperial County, California (El Centro) with a 17.7% rate and Jefferson County, Mississippi (Fayette) is third in the nation with an unemployment rate of 17.4%.
In fifth place with the highest unemployment rate in the United States and third in Texas is Zavala County, Texas in Crystal City with a rate of 16.1%
The State of Texas has three of the highest five counties with the highest unemployment rate in the United States in December 2020. Two of them, Starr County and Maverick County are counties located on the United States-Mexico border while Zavala County is adjacent to Maverick County, only 40 miles from the border.
Imperial County, California is also a county located on the United States-Mexico border, registering four of the top five counties with the highest unemployment rate in the U.S. are on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Maverick County reported having a labor force of 24,928 workers with 20,864 employed and 4,064 unemployed for a 16.3% unemployment rate as of December 2020.
Despite having many natural and geographic resources available, Maverick County has recorded high unemployment rates for many years in the State of Texas as well as in the United States.
With the COVID-19 pandemic surging in Maverick County during the past 11 months, the unemployment rate has increased as local small businesses and employers have had to lay off employees due to decreased sales activities and some businesses have had to close down due to the controversial former Trump Administration non-essential travel restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Maverick County requires a bold economic development plan that maximizes its natural resources and strategic location on the U.S.-Mexico border to create new businesses and industries that will provide good paying jobs,” said one local business person. Another local citizen stated that “Eagle Pass and Maverick County need to think outside the box to create new business and employment opportunities for its citizens.”
