Nov 23, 2016
Texas economy getting back on solid ground
Recent job gains in both mining and manufacturing could signal the end of the Texas economy’s oil-driven slump, according to data from both the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Texas Workforce Commission.
Employers added 13,700 jobs last month. Mining added 1,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis. The last positive addition was in November 2015 with a gain of a 100 jobs. Before that it was December 2014 with 200 jobs.
Manufacturing added 2,000 jobs last month thanks to an increase in the number of durable goods jobs (300). This marks the second consecutive month that manufacturing jobs have registered growth. Nondurable goods have not registered job growth since last June.
The service sector continues to be the main driver of growth in the state’s economy, with trade, transportation, and utilities registering the biggest job gains with 8,200 jobs. Other services, such as health care (6,100 jobs) and financial activities (4,400 jobs) contributed to gains last month as well.
The unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage point to 4.7 percent.
Incorporating October’s employment growth of 1.1 percent (based on the Dallas Federal Reserve early benchmark revisions) and the revised leading index data into the Dallas Fed’s Texas employment forecast leads to a 2016 estimate of 1.5 percent year-over-year growth for December, up from last month’s estimates of 1.2 percent. The forecast suggests that 183,800 jobs will be added in the state this year and that employment next month will reach 12.1 million.
Based on the recent momentum in jobs and the flatness in the Texas leading index, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas expects the state to continue growing at a pace of 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter. The general indicators of the Texas economy continue to point toward moderate growth.
With the improvements in the energy and manufacturing sectors, the Texas economy looks to be on solid ground and will likely advance in 2017.
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