Austin (KXAN) — Texas Workforce Commission data showed that nearly 28,000 people in the surrounding capital area were actively seeking employment in the month of February. According to Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area (WSRCA), a no-cost agency that connects employers and job seekers, the unemployment rate of the nine counties it serves increased from 3.6% in January to 3.8% in February. The breakdown of data by county collected by WSRCA in February is as follows: Blanco County: 3.6 percent (up from 3.4 percent in January) Burnet County: 3.8 percent (up from 3.6 percent in January) Hays County: 3.6 percent (up from 3.4 percent in January) Lee County: 3.5 percent (steady compared to 3.5 percent in January) Williamson County: 3.8 percent (up from 3.6 percent in January) Bastrop County: 3.8 percent (up from 3.6 percent in January) Fayette County: 4.1 percent (up from 4.0 percent in January) Caldwell County: 3.9 percent (up from 3.7 percent in January) Llano County: 4.2 percent (steady compared to 4.2 percent in January) Travis County and Austin are served by Workforce Solutions Capital Area. That agency's latest update was in January, and it said unemployment in the Austin-Round Rock area was 3.1% in December 2024. Kelly Moreno, chief solutions officer for WSRCA, said the uptick is slight, and local unemployment is still within what's considered a healthy range between 3-5%. Moreno said there doesn't appear to be a specific reason for the change in unemployment rates, but recent cuts at the federal level could be a factor. She also said it could be due to businesses bracing for the impact that U.S. tariffs might have. "I think corporations are being conscious of where they're doing their next expenditure and how that's going to look. They may be waiting to watch, to see how the market's going to handle this and then move forward," Moreno said. ...read more read less