Texas Unemployment Remains Low
D-FW unemployment held at 3.1% in October, the same as the previous month.
Texas unemployment held at historic lows in October as job growth accelerated slightly over the previous year to add 30,100 jobs, according to data released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission. For the fifth consecutive month, statewide unemployment remained at a historic low of 3.4%. Texas employers have added 297,100 jobs so far this year.
“October labor market data is great news for Texas workers,” TWC Commissioner Representing Labor Julian Alvarez said in a statement. “Their skills continue to be in high demand and more and more individuals are finding employment. These numbers are a wonderful reminder of why I am proud to be a Texan.”
Texas started 2019 with a jobless rate of 3.8% that later fell to 3.4% in June, where it’s held since. Current levels of unemployment are the lowest seen in the state since Texas started tracking it in 1976. This time last year, Texas unemployment was slightly higher at 3.7%. The low jobless rate is indicative of a continued tightness in statewide labor markets, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas assistant economist Christopher Slijk. “Anecdotally, that’s what we continue to hear in our surveys [with employers] that there’s broadly more difficulty in finding qualified workers,” Slijk said.
Texas job growth for the month was led by the trade, transportation and utilities industry in October adding 9,700 jobs. The professional and business services sector added another 6,300 jobs...
