Monthly Review of the Texas Economy

By Ali Anari

Texas’ economy is slowly recovering from the impact of the 2015 oil price collapse. The state gained 181,800 nonagricultural jobs from March 2015 to March 2016, an annual growth rate of 1.5 percent, lower than the nation’s growth rate of 2 percent. The nongovernment sector added 148,400 jobs, an annual growth rate of 1.5 percent compared with 2.3 percent for the nation’s private sector.

According to the Real Estate Center’s latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy, March 2016 was the third month the state’s economy posted an annual employment growth rate exceeding the annual growth rate in December 2015, indicating that the Texas economy has passed the worst impact of the downturn.

Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March 2016 fell to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent in March 2015. The nation’s rate decreased from 5.5 to 5 percent.

All Texas industries except mining and logging, manufacturing, and transportation, warehousing and utilities had more jobs in March 2016 than in March 2015. Leisure and hospitality ranked first in job creation followed by education and health services, trade, and financial activities.

All Texas metro areas except Victoria, Longview, Midland, and Odessa had more jobs in March 2016 than in March 2015. Dallas-Plano-Irving ranked first in job creation, followed by College Station-Bryan, Austin-Round Rock, Sherman-Denison, Killeen-Temple, and Lubbock.

The state’s actual unemployment rate in March 2016 was 4.5 percent. Amarillo had the lowest unemployment rate, followed by Austin-Round Rock, Lubbock, College Station-Bryan, Dallas-Plano-Irving, and San Antonio-New Braunfels.

To see the previous month’s report, click here. For the report from a year ago, click here.

This article originally published by Real Estate Center at TAMU.