Austin News

During the month of March, The Texas job market remained strong, adding 110,800 jobs. 

This wipes out job losses in February 2021 – revised to 14,300, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas – and brings the total number of jobs added this year to 142,200, according to a report by 5NBCDFW.

“#Texas' economy does it again, adding 110,800 jobs in March, according to @DallasFed, which also predicts our state will add almost a million jobs this year. Meanwhile our #FortWorth economy continues to boom with the arrival of more Fortune 500 companies,” wrote Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) in an April 19 tweet linking to a report by 5NBCDFW.com.

"Jobs rebounded strongly in March as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations fell sharply and mobility increased," said Keith Phillips, the assistant vice president and senior economist at the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. "Job gains were broad-based across industries with particular strength in construction, leisure and hospitality and oil and gas jobs. Continued strong demand for new single-family homes and for home repair from Winter Storm Uri drove construction jobs, while dropping COVID-19 cases and gains in the number of people vaccinated likely drove the demand for restaurants, hotels and other leisure and hospitality industries.”

The Texas Workforce Commission announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate across the state was 6.9%, and that there were an additional 99,000 non-agricultural jobs and 106,600 added jobs overall in the private sector. Between national forecasts, oil futures prices and figures related to COVID-19 hospitalizations, the Texas employment forecast predicts 6.6% job growth in Texas this year.

“That Texas added over 100,000 private-sector jobs in the midst of a pandemic is extraordinary,” TWC Commissioner Julian Alvarez said. “This is great news for the workers of Texas, and TWC stands ready to help continue this growth through skills training and job matching services through MyTXCareer.com and our local workforce development boards.”

In another bit of good news for the state, Fitch Ratings has given Texas an economic outlook of “stable.”