Beacon Employment Report Texas – Industry Overview

December’s job gains occurred in some of the industries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, although employment levels in these sectors remain depressed compared to their pre-pandemic levels.

• Job growth was led by the Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector, where payrolls increased by 14,300 in December. This sector is now 4% larger than in February, one of the few industries in the state that has fully recovered from the job losses in March and April. Employment in the sector increased by 5.9% over the year.
• Only two other industries, the Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities sector, which added 2,500 positions over the month, and Finance and Insurance sector, which added 600, positions, have also recovered all of the jobs lost since the downtown. For the year, the sectors grew by 3.5% and 3 %, respectively.
• Administrative Support Services (+13,100), Retail Trade (+12,900), Accommodation and Food Services (+7,300), and Health Care and Social Assistance (+5,500) also posted strong gains during the month.
• A handful of sectors saw payrolls decline in December, including Real Estate (-4,200), Government (-3,400), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (-1,000), and Finance, Insurance, and Management (-1,000).
• Over the course of 2020, only three sectors experienced employment growth in the state: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities; and Finance and Insurance. Jobs were lost in all other sectors, with the largest losses occurring in Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (-28%), Mining and Logging (-18%) and Accommodation and Food Services (-10%).