Texas Keeps Adding Jobs, but Not in Oil and Manufacturing

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) has released some individual state data on jobs in the state. While Texas continues to add jobs, and while the unemployment rate is far better than the national average, the reality is that the report contains very mixed data when you look at which sectors are adding and losing jobs.

Job growth was shown to be up by some 20,000 jobs in October. That gain is by 203,900 jobs over the trailing 12 months now. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October was 4.4%, up from 4.2% in September. This marked the eighth month of 2015 in which Texas had positive jobs numbers.

Where the report gets more mixed, outside of the rise in the state’s unemployment rate, is in the mix of jobs. As a reminder, not all sectors pay the same, with some paying far less than others.

The TWC showed that the net 20,000 jobs came from the following sectors:

• 12,400 jobs in leisure and hospitality
• 4,100 in government
• 3,300 in professional and business services
• 2,600 in construction
• 2,600 in financial activities
• 2,300 in trade, transportation and utilities
• 1,400 in education and health services

Private-sector employers added 15,900 jobs in October. The private sector also has accounted for the addition of 180,800 positions in Texas over the past year. The TWC report signaled that small businesses have contributed to the expanded opportunities. So, the issue that throws this into some less bright light is that jobs in manufacturing, mining and logging (oil, that is), and goods producing continue to lose jobs. These have been shown against September 2015 first and October 2014 as follows:

• Goods producing was -4,200 from the prior month and -63,100 versus October 2014.
• Mining and logging (again, oil) was -2,000 from the prior month and -32,900 versus October 2014.
• Manufacturing was -4,800 from the prior month and -35,400 from October 2014.

As a reminder, oil jobs have been represented by numerous industries and economists as being worth twice as much as other jobs when considering the total economic footprint. The overall news remains good, but it comes with some serious caveats.

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