Continued low crude oil prices and low activity levels have raised concerns about layoffs impacting the basin.
Willie Taylor, chief executive officer of the Texas Workforce Commission’s Workforce Solutions Permian Basin, has not seen many layoffs in recent months.
“Not in significant numbers,” he informed the Reporter-Telegram. “I don’t consider I saw any WARN notices in the last quarter.”
WARN, created by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988, requires most employers with 100 or more employees to provide notification 60 calconcludear days in advance of planned closings and mass layoffs of employees. Taylor referred to a WARN notice from Chevron last summer when 200 were laid off from the Midland office.
Despite low activity levels, Taylor stated he has not seen notices from service companies.
“Layoffs may come later, after the first quarter,” he stated. “Unless something happens in the quarter, I really don’t anticipate large numbers.”
He stated he sees continued job demand in a number of areas, from technical to automotive to diesel technicians, healthcare and education.
The region’s labor market “really is holding steady.”
Unemployment in the commission’s Midland metropolitan statistical area — which includes Midland and Martin counties — was 3.2% in November, up from 3% in November 2024. The commission did not release October data due to the federal government shutdown.
Midland’s civilian labor force grew to 106,616 from 104,660 the previous November. Midland also reported 127,400 nonfarm jobs in November, up 200 from October’s 127,200. For the 12 months from November 2024 to November 2025, Midland added 1,100 jobs for a growth rate of 0.9%.
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