COLLEGE STATION, Sept. 2, 2016 – Texas gained 176,600 nonagricultural jobs from July 2015 to July 2016, an annual growth rate of 1.5 percent, according to the latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy prepared by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
That’s slightly lower than the nation’s growth rate of 1.7 percent, according to Ali Anari, the research economist at the center who wrote the report.
The nongovernment sector added 136,100 jobs, an annual growth rate of 1.4 percent compared with 1.9 percent for the nation’s private sector.
Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate last month was 4.6 percent, up from 4.4 percent in July 2015. The nation’s rate decreased from 5.3 to 4.9 percent.
All Texas industries except mining and logging, manufacturing, information, and the transportation, warehousing, and utilities industries had more jobs. Leisure and hospitality ranked first in job creation followed by education and health services, financial activities, trade, and the government sector.
All Texas metro areas except Odessa, Midland, Texarkana, and Wichita Falls had more jobs. College Station-Bryan ranked first in job creation followed by Austin-Round Rock, Dallas-Plano-Irving, Laredo, El Paso, and Brownsville-Harlingen.
The state’s actual unemployment rate was 5.1 percent. Amarillo and Austin-Round Rock had the lowest unemployment rate, followed by Dallas-Plano-Irving, Lubbock, College Station-Bryan, San Antonio-New Braunfels, and Sherman-Denison.
The complete report is available online at https://www.recenter.tamu.edu/articles/technical-report/monthly-review-of-the-texas-economy.