20 - Year Growth Plan - City of Kendleton

Section 7.0 Economic DevelopmentFigure 7-6 shows that the Fort Bend County unemployment rate is lower than the Stateof Texas and the United States rates since 2007. However, the unemployment rates ofall three have increased over the past decade as a result of Fort Bend County’scontinued growth during the recent national recession.Figure 7-6: Annual Unemployment Rates: 2002-201210.09.08.07.06.05.04.03.0Fort Bend CountyTexasUS2002200320042005200620072008200920102011Sources:8Texas Workforce CommissionFort Bend County’s workforce is growing at a faster rate than both Texas and the UnitedStates as shown in Table 7-C. Since 2003, the county’s workforce expanded at anannual average rate of 4.17%, compared to Texas at 1.36%, and the United States at0.25%. The workforce has continued to contract at the national level starting in 2008and in Texas for one year in 2009. Fortunately, Fort Bend County’s workforce continuedto expand but at a slightly slower rate in 2009, and is currently on track to grow at aneven faster rate than earlier in the previous decade.Table 7-C: Average Annual Change (%) in Employed Labor Force:2003-2010Year Fort Bend County Texas United States2010 5.18 1.75 -0.582009 2.09 -0.08 -3.772008 4.53 1.52 -0.472007 4.13 1.46 1.122006 4.19 1.95 1.902005 4.73 1.60 1.782004 4.57 1.53 1.102003 3.91 1.12 0.92Average 4.17 1.36 0.25Sources:8Texas Workforce Commission44 City of Kendleton