HOUSTON, Texas — Texas’ unemployment picture isn’t about statistics.
It's about people like Benny Aguilar.
"It was a shock.”
The mechanical designer showed us the termination letter he got Friday morning when he arrived for work.
"This is the first stop," said Aguilar outside a Houston Workforce Solutions location. "Coming to the unemployment office.”
According to the Texas Comptroller, who oversees the state’s finances, the monthly jobless rate could top a record set during the 1980s “oil bust.”
"As long as this continues to go on, it’s going to have a significant disruption to people’s everyday lives,” said Comptroller Glenn Hegar. "Which is unprecedented for Texas because we've had low unemployment numbers for quite some time."
Recently laid off electrician Alan DeLeon is willing to do anything.
"My wife is pregnant, so I’m in a different situation right now," said DeLeon. "I have to pay my apartment, my truck, and I really need a job.”
Fortunately, some places are hiring.
The Workforce Solutions job page currently features everything from at-home computer-related positions to those in security and many in healthcare.
In fact, Buckner Retirement Services told us it's hiring multiple positions in all six of its senior living facilities like Parkway Place in West Houston.
And just this week, Walmart reportedly took on 25,000 new employees and seeks thousands more amid a nationwide hiring push as it and other retailers work to keep shelves stocked and checkout lines moving.
"We just got to pray to God and, you know, hopefully this will end sooner,” said Aguilar.
Right now, there’s no indication of how soon that might be.
Click here, to visit Texas Workforce Commission's website.
