August 2005

The Texas labor market gained some momentum in July, rising at the fastest monthly pace since January. Texas payrolls rose by 12,300—an annualized growth rate of 1.6 percent—according to data released by the Texas Workforce Commission and seasonally adjusted by the Dallas Fed (see table). Year-to-date employment is up 1.3 percent (annualized rate). The Texas unemployment rate edged down from 5.1 percent in June to 5 percent in July.

Of Texas’ major metropolitan areas, Fort Worth–Arlington recorded the strongest pace of job growth in July (3.2 percent) and added the most jobs (2,100). Austin’s payrolls rose by 1,200—a growth rate of 2.1 percent—while Houston and San Antonio recorded job gains of 1,100 and 1,000, respectively. El Paso and Dallas saw more modest increases—400 and 300, respectively (see chart).

Year-to date, Austin has recorded the strongest rate of employment growth (2.7 percent), followed by El Paso (2.6 percent), San Antonio (1.5 percent), Houston (1.4 percent), Fort Worth–Arlington (1 percent) and Dallas (0.8 percent).

—D’Ann Petersen

Notes All growth rates are annualized unless otherwise noted.   The employment data used in this analysis has been early benchmarked to fourth quarter 2004 by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.   For more information regarding the importance of seasonal adjustment of economic data, see Data Basics, "Seasonally Adjusting Data." For more information about the procedure used to seasonally adjust metro-level data, see "Reassessing Texas Employment Growth," [PDF] Southwest Economy, July/August 1993.