Texas Employment Update

With the Texas Workforce Commission’s release of the December employment data, Texas’ 2023 job growth came in at a robust 3.1 percent (426,900 jobs)—a full percentage point above the state’s long-term average growth. U.S. employment expanded 1.7 percent. Texas job gains were broad based across major sectors except for information, which contracted 1.6 percent due to weakness in the high-tech sector. Last year’s job growth was above the original Dallas Fed forecast of 1.4 percent (with an 80 percent confidence band of 0.7 to 2.2 percent) as the labor market proved surprisingly resilient in the face of higher interest rates. Job gains were widespread across the state’s metros, too, in 2023, with Dallas leading growth among the largest metros at 3.3 percent and Brownsville leading the state overall with 5.0 percent job growth. The Texas unemployment rate was relatively stable in 2023, ending the year at 4.0 percent.