Aug. 22--Waco's unemployment rate for July stood at 7.2 percent, the highest it has been since at least 2000, according to figures released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission.

That's up from 5.1 percent in July of last year and 7.1 percent in June.

"Consumer spending necessary to create jobs just is not appearing, nationally or in Texas, except in specific areas like automobile purchases," Baylor University economist Kent Gilbreath said.

Ironically, the unemployment figures came out on the first day of the sales-tax holiday weekend, when retailers hope customers will give their stores, and the economy, a jolt.

The unemployment rate for the Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of McLennan County, remains lower than the state's 7.9 percent and the nation's 9.4 percent.

Nearby Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood also had a 7.2 percent unemployment rate in July.

Figures released by the workforce commission Friday are not seasonally adjusted.

Scott Connell, a spokesman for the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, said figures released Friday have some good news for Waco. They show that the number of people employed in July of this year was only 200 less than in July of last year, though the unemployment rate this year was significantly higher.

The unemployment rate is growing because Waco's labor force is growing. It stood at 114,900 in July of this year, when 106,600 people were employed. And it stood at 112,600 last July, when 106,800 people had jobs.

With a growing job market, Connell said, Waco will have people to fill openings as the economy recovers.

Connell points out that L-3 Communications, an aircraft modification company, is hiring because it just built a $10 million hangar. The Veterans Affairs Medical Center, meanwhile, will be hiring 224 for a new program.

Robert Crawley, a labor analyst at the Texas Workforce Commission, said Waco's job market may be growing because of layoffs. He said when the primary bread winner loses his or her job, other family members begin looking for work.

"I'm not saying that's what is happening in Waco, but it's not uncommon," Crawley said.

Gilbreath said unemployment rates affecting other parts of the country "have come home to roost in Texas." The good news is that Texas tends to lag behind the national economy going down but leads it going up.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday that the national economy "is poised for recovery." Gilbreath said he's waiting on statistical evidence that the recovery has begun.

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