Austin News

People are getting back to work in the Austin metro area, although it’s still a struggle for some.

On May 21, the Texas Workforce Commission released updated estimates for unemployment in April. The unemployment rate in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area was 4.5% in April, down from 5.3% in March.

“Wonderful news: the @TXWorkforce announced today that Austin's unemployment rate fell below five percent for the first time since December. We have lower unemployment than the state and the nation, adding 6,000 jobs from March to April of this year,” Mayor Steve Adler wrote in a May 21 tweet.

The metro area, which includes Austin, Round Rock and surrounding areas, beat the state’s unemployment rate, which was 6.3% overall, and the national unemployment rate, which was 5.7%.

Even as the area adds thousands of jobs, there are still people who are struggling to find a job. One of those individuals is Amy Downs, who spoke to CBS Austin about her struggles for a report published on May 24.

Downs works in the service industry but says that despite her relentless approach to getting her name out there, she’s only had one offer in the past few months.

"It’s made me really angry and depressed. And you wake up in the morning and you try to figure out why am I getting out of bed. Because to go to another job interview where I’m going to be rejected," said Downs. "I went for passing out flyers, fast food, shift leaders not paying me hardly what I was used to before. I was willing to take that pay cut if I could just get a job, just get anything. Just let me get my foot in the door and show you what I’m made of."

For those who struggle, Workforce Solutions Capital Area has a variety of services for those who are searching. They offer training and can connect individuals with unemployment insurance, other resources or adult education programs.