Texas again set a new employment record in October for the twelfth consecutive month. As reported by the Texas Workforce Commission, employers added 49,500 new nonfarm jobs, for a total of 13,630,000 jobs. Additionally, when the self-employed and other categories are taken into account, the number of working Texans is 14,002,911.
At 5.4%, it had the fastest job growth rate in a one-year period (between October 2021 and October 2022), leading the ranking by states. Texas Governor Greg Abbott celebrated this important milestone:
Texas AGAIN breaks record for total jobs, leads nation for fastest annual jobs growth! #TexasWorks. Texas continues to create jobs & set historic employment records thanks to our strong, growing workforce & continuing business confidence in Texas.
Texas AGAIN breaks record for total jobs, leads nation for fastest annual jobs growth! #TexasWorks
Texas continues to create jobs & set historic employment records thanks to our strong, growing workforce & continuing business confidence in Texas. https://t.co/uGu2xWBLH2 pic.twitter.com/l9jZwwY7YYy
- Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) November 18, 2022
Despite the poor economic situation and high inflation in the United States, Abbott highlighted the strength of Texas in terms of employment:
With 49,500 jobs added last month and another new record for total jobs, the Lone Star State shines as a beacon of opportunity. Despite national economic headwinds, Texas grew jobs at the fastest rate in the nation over the past 12 months. Working together in the months ahead, we will continue to expand economic opportunity for all Texans.
Leisure and hospitality, the sector that grew the most in number of jobs
In October, ten of the top eleven industries in Texas showed growth over October of last year. The leisure and hospitality sector recorded the largest increase in the number of jobs in the last twelve months: 149,600. This was followed by the goods production sector (+131,700) and trade, transportation and utilities (103,500).
Percentage-wise, the most notable increase was in the mining and logging sector, which saw an increase of 22.9% - there are currently 224,700 jobs compared to 182,900 in 2021. The information sector (+11.5%) and the leisure and hospitality sector (+11.1%) also showed increases above 10%.
Unemployment rate falls
The unemployment rate decreased with respect to the previous year. Texas currently has an out-of-work ratio of 3.8% (549,800 unemployed Texans), down one point from October 2021 (4.8%). On the other hand, the seasonal unemployment rate stood at 3.5%, the lowest since February 2020.
By metropolitan area, Amarillo and Austin-Round Rock recorded the lowest unemployment rates at 2.8% each, followed by Midland at 2.9%. In contrast, the highest unemployment rate was in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, at 6.1% (-1.6% compared to October 2021).
