The Austin Area Economy lost more than 127-thousand jobs because of the Covid 19 crisis, according to the latest Dallas Federal Reserve report.
The Fed’s Judy Teng said looking at the April numbers that severe loss of jobs helped weigh down the metro’s Business cycle index, which represents the health and growth of the local economy. She reported, “The Austin Business Cycle index declined 77% on an annualized basis in April.” Teng added this shows the local economy shrinking and is the largest “contraction” since the DFR started reporting the economic indicators report in 1978.
The index takes into consideration Unemployment levels along with a few other economic factors to come up the BCI. Teng said, the Austin unemployment level in April held at 11.5%. While that is high, she added, other Texas Metro’s are higher, “For some perspective, the April unemployment rate was 12.3% in Ft. Worth, 13.3% in Houston, 12.3% in San Antonio, and 11.8 in Dallas.”
However Teng continued, newly released unemployment data that run up until late last month showed while jobless claims have been on the rise, the Fed is seen the count starting to slow.
