Unemployment numbers for Brown County have been showing signs of improvement in recent months, and April 2012 numbers show that trend continuing.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), Brown County’s unemployment rate for April was 5.7% which is a three year low.   The last time unemployment was 5.7% was in January 2009, and it has been above 6% ever since, according to TWC records, and it topped out at 8.7% in March of 2011.  The records also show that the labor force in Brown County has steadily increased since the beginning of the year as well.

Brownwood Economic  Development Corporation Executive Director Emily Crawford said that this is a good sign for the local economy.

“I believe we can say with certainty that the recent employment statistics represent a stronger local economy,” Crawford said.  “Not only has the unemployment rate steadily gone down, but the number of people who are employed in Brown County has increased.”

Crawford said that the unemployment rate has been steadily decreasing since August 2011, with only a slight increase in January of this year.

That number is expected to slightly increase again over the summer because of temporary layoffs of university contract workers which is typical for that time of year, according to Crawford.

The state of Texas recorded an adjusted unemployment rate of 6.9% in April of 2012, also showing improvement since the beginning of the year.

The average unemployment rate for Brown County in 2011 was 7.2%.