Texas’ 2.8 Percent Job Growth Outpaces U.S., Real Estate Center Report Shows

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) – The Texas economy gained 320,400 nonagricultural jobs from March 2014 to March 2015, an annual growth rate of 2.8 percent compared with 2.3 percent for the United States. According to the latest Monthly

Review of the Texas Economy, published by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, the state’s nongovernment sector added 304,300 jobs, an annual growth rate of 3.2 percent compared with 2.6 percent for the nation’s private sector. Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent in March 2015 from 5.3 percent in March 2014. The nation’s rate decreased from 6.6 to 5.5 percent. All Texas industries had more jobs in March than a year ago. The state’s construction industry ranked first in job creation followed by the transportation, warehousing and utilities industry, leisure and hospitality industry, education and health services, and mining and logging. All Texas metro areas except El Paso and Wichita Falls had more jobs. Midland ranked first in job creation, followed by Odessa, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Longview, Dallas-Plano-Irving and San Antonio-New Braunfels. The state’s actual unemployment rate was 4.2 percent. Midland had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Amarillo, Austin-Round Rock, College Station-Bryan and Lubbock. The complete report is available online at http://www.recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1862.pdf.