Texas Employment Update

December job growth was 3.1 percent in Texas, according to employment data released today by the Texas Workforce Commission and early benchmarked by the Dallas Fed. Job growth in 2024 came in at 1.7 percent (244,000 jobs)—slightly below the state’s long-term average growth of 2.0 percent. Texas job gains were generally broad based across sectors, with strong gains seen in oil and gas, financial services and construction. Job growth remained positive but slowed notably in trade and transportation, professional and business services, and government. Across major Texas metros, El Paso led the pack with 2.1 percent growth; among small metros, Beaumont–Port Arthur led with 4.9 percent job growth. Last year’s job growth fell slightly short of the original Dallas Fed forecast of 2.0 percent (with an 80 percent confidence band of 1.2 to 2.8 percent), mostly due to higher interest rates and election uncertainty. The Texas unemployment rate ended the year at 4.2 percent.