Texas 2.8 Percent Job Growth Outpaces U.S.
Monthly Review of the Texas Economy—April 2015
By Ali Anari and Mark G. Dotzour
The Texas’ economy gained 320,400 non-agricultural jobs from March 2014 to March 2015, an annual growth rate of 2.8 percent compared with 2.3 percent for the United States.
The state’s nongovernment sector added 304,300 jobs, an annual growth rate of 3.2 percent compared with 2.6 percent for the nation’s private sector.
Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent in March 2015 from 5.3 percent in March 2014. The nation’s rate decreased from 6.6 to 5.5 percent
Texas Employment Growth Rates by Industry
Texas industries ranked by employment growth rate from March 2014 to March 2015. All Texas industries had more jobs in March 2015 than in March 2014.
The state’s construction industry ranked first in job creation followed by the transportation, warehousing and utilities industry, leisure and hospitality industry, education and health services, and mining and logging.
Texas Job Shares by Industry and the Government Sector
Texas industries and the state’s government sector ranked by their shares of Texas jobs in March 2015. Of the 11,728,000 nonagricultural jobs in March 2015, the highest percentage of employment by industry was in the government sector followed by the trade industry, education and health services, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality.
Since March 2014 the state’s trade industry, education and health services, leisure and hospitality industry, construction industry, transportation, warehousing and utilities industry, and mining and logging industry have expanded their shares of Texas employment at the expense of the government sector, professional and business services, manufacturing industry, other services industry, and information industry.
Contributions to Texas Employment Growth Rate by Industry
Texas’ statewide employment growth rate of 2.8 percent, or more exactly 2.809 percent, from March 2014 to March 2015 is the weighted average of employment growth rates for all Texas industries for the period. Weights are shares of jobs by industry. The contribution of each industry to the statewide employment growth rate is equal to the employment growth rate of that industry multiplied by its share of Texas jobs.
The state’s education and health services ranked first in contribution to statewide employment growth rate followed by trade, leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and the construction industry
Employment Growth Rates by Texas Metropolitan Areas
All Texas metro areas except El Paso and Wichita Falls had more jobs in March 2015 than in March 2014. Midland ranked first in job creation, followed by Odessa, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Longview, Dallas-Plano-Irving, and San Antonio-New Braunfels
Texas Job Shares by Metropolitan Area
Texas metropolitan areas ranked by their shares of total Texas jobs in March 2015.
The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metro area had the largest share of Texas jobs, followed by Dallas-Plano- Irving, Fort Worth-Arlington, San Antonio-New Braunfels, Austin-Round Rock, El Paso, and McAllen- Edinburg-Mission
Contributions to Texas Employment Growth Rate by Metropolitan Area
The statewide employment growth rate of 2.8087 percent in Texas from March 2014 to March 2015 is the weighted average of employment growth rates of all Texas metro areas for the period. Weights are shares of jobs by area. The contribution of each metro area to the statewide employment growth rate is equal to the employment growth rate in that area multiplied by its share of Texas jobs.
Texas metro areas ranked by their contributions to Texas employment growth rates from March 2014 to March 2015. The Dallas-Plano-Irving metro area ranked first, followed by Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, San Antonio-New Braunfels, Fort Worth-Arlington, and Austin-Round Rock.
Unemployment Rate by Metropolitan Area
The state’s actual unemployment rate in March 2015 was 4.2 percent. Midland had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Amarillo, Austin-Round Rock, College Station-Bryan, and Lubbock
Employment Growth Rates and Unemployment Rates by Metropolitan Area
Texas’ unemployment rate of 4.2 percent in March 2015 show the state’s metro areas currently falling into the following groups:
a. Metro areas with employment growth rates higher than Texas’ and unemployment rates lower than Texas’ are Midland, Odessa, Dallas-Plano-Irving, and San Antonio-New Braunfels.
b. Metro areas with employment growth rates higher than the statewide average and unemployment equal to the statewide average were Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, and Longview.
c. Metro areas with employment growth rates equal to the statewide average and unemployment rates higher than statewide average were Laredo and Corpus Christi.
d. Metro areas with employment growth rates and unemployment rates higher than the statewide average were Beaumont-Port Arthur and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission.
e. Metro areas with employment growth rates lower than Texas’ and unemployment rates lower than Texas’ in March 2015 were Victoria, Fort Worth-Arlington, Austin-Round Rock, Abilene, San Angelo, Waco, Lubbock, Amarillo, Sherman Denison, College Station-Bryan, and Wichita Falls.
f. Metro areas with employment growth rates lower than Texas’ and unemployment rates higher than Texas’ in March 2015 were Tyler, Brownsville-Harlingen, Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, El Paso, and Texarkana.
~~This information was provided by the Texas Real Estate Center, Texas A&M. The complete monthly report is available online at http://www.recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1862.pdf
