AUSTIN – Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released state-level labor market data for September 2018. Texas employers in the public and private sectors created 15,600 net nonfarm jobs in September, the second most in the nation of 406,400 jobs in the last 12 months, with Florida topping all states but likely influenced by Hurricane Michael.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Director of the Center for Economic Prosperity and Senior Economist Dr. Vance Ginn issued the following statement:
“Employers in Texas’ private sector added 16,700 net jobs last month bringing job creation for the last 12 months to 402,500 jobs, with every industry adding jobs except the information sector. This brings the annualized private sector job creation rate up to a robust 3.9 percent, as Texas continues to hold a top spot nationwide. California, on the other hand, a similar-size state but with markedly different policies, saw only a 2 percent job creation rate. Institutions matter for human flourishing in the private sector, and this report provides another example of that fact.”
The Texas Workforce Commission reports Texas’ unemployment rate of 3.8 percent in September is the lowest rate in 40 years and has now been at or below 5 percent — considered to be full employment — for 50 straight months. Texas has now had positive job creation in 98 of the last 104 months, or 27 consecutive months of positive annual job creation.
The unemployment rates in major Texas metro areas remained essentially unchanged from last month: Austin-Round Rock at 2.9 percent, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington at 3.4 percent, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land at 4.1 percent, and San Antonio-New Braunfels at 3.3 percent.