Private Sector Continues to Create Jobs in Texas

Texas added 15,400 new jobs last month, according to statistics released today by the Texas Workforce Commission. The Texas unemployment rate, which increased over the last three months, remained steady in September at 8.5 percent. Eight of the 11 major industries added new jobs, resulting in a net gain of 282,200 jobs over the last year.

Although the unemployment rate didn’t budge, Texas Workforce Commissioner Tom Pauken said in a press release that Texas’ job creation “continues a long-term trend in Texas of healthy private sector job growth."

Texas government continues to shrink, according to the release. An additional 11,100 government jobs were lost in September, creating an overall loss of 33,700 government jobs since last year. In August, the loss of 9,400 government jobs outweighed private sector growth, causing the first net decline in employment in almost a year. The impact is greatest on local government, which has lost 2.5 percent of employees over the last year.  

The private industries that created the most jobs since last year are professional and business services (68,200), trade, transportation and utilities (44,600), and education and health services (37,700).

Unemployment ranges from 4.8 percent to 12.6 percent across the state. Midland, Odessa and Amarillo have the lowest unemployment rates in the state. Only four of Texas largest cities — McAllen, Brownsville, Beaumont and El Paso — have unemployment rates higher than the national unemployment rate.