March 22, 2024
Beacon Employment Report | Texas
Presented by Beacon Economics
Copyright © Beacon Economics LLC
TEXAS EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS PICK UP STEAM IN LATEST NUMBERS, LEADING THE NATION
STATE CLOSE TO ‘FULL EMPLOYMENT’
49,800
Jobs Added
After a slow start to the year, hiring in Texas picked up steam in the latest numbers. New figures from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) reveal that the state’s employers added an impressive 49,800 nonfarm payrolls during the month of February, a 0.4% increase over the previous month.
3.9%
Unemployment Rate
Overall, Texas continues to lead the nation in employment growth. Nonfarm employment in the state has increased by 2.1% year-over-year, compared to 1.8% at the national level. In addition, Texas continues to add more jobs than any other state by a large margin, adding 291,400 new jobs since February of last year, followed by Florida (226,200), and California (179,700).
Texas’s unemployment rate also held steady at 3.9%, which is where it has stood for nine consecutive months, while at the national level, the unemployment rate ticked up 0.2 percentage points to 3.9%.
1.5%
Annual Labor Force Growth
“Texas’s unemployment rate is the same as the national average, which is fairly uncommon as the state tends to be slightly higher than the national figure,” said Justin Niakamal, Manager of Regional Research at Beacon Economics. “In the last three years there was only one month where Texas’s unemployment rate was below the nationwide rate. At this point, the state is fairly close to full employment.”
Texas’s labor force also continued to expand. The Lone Star state also saw a month-over-month increase of 0.2%, while at the national level the labor force grew by 0.1% after a weak start to the year. Over the last twelve months Texas’s labor force has increased by 1.5%, more than double the nation’s 0.7% increase.
The Beacon Employment Report | Texas is a unique analysis of Texas’ employment numbers and trends. Each month, we link our own econometric predictions to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Labor Market Information Division of the Texas Workforce Commission to identify important changes in employment across industries and regions. The Beacon Employment Report is also one of the few analyses that uses seasonally adjusted numbers, which are critical to revealing accurate trends and insights within data. The analysis is a sample of the kind of research available from Beacon Economics.
The contents of this report are based on information derived from carefully selected sources Beacon Economics believe are reasonable. We do not guarantee its accuracy or completeness and nothing presented here shall be construed to be a representation of such a guarantee.
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