Texas Adds 133,100 Jobs in Last 12 Months

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas’ economy gained 133,100 jobs from August 2009 to August 2010, an annual growth rate of 1.3 percent.
During the same period, the U.S. economy added 278,000 jobs, an annual growth rate of 0.2 percent. The state’s private sector posted an annual employment growth rate of 1.4 compared with 0.3 percent for the United States.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 8 percent in August 2009 to 8.3 percent in August 2010, while the nation’s rate in August decreased from 9.7 to 9.6 percent.
All Texas industries except the trade, construction and information industries had more jobs in August 2010 than in August last year.
Twenty-four Texas metro areas had positive employment growth rates for the year ending Aug. 31, up from 19 for the period from July 2009 to July 2010. Sherman-Denison ranked first in job creation, followed by San Angelo, Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Odessa and Tyler.
The state’s actual unemployment rate in August 2010 was 8.4 percent. Midland had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Amarillo, Lubbock, San Angelo and Abilene.
For the complete set of August data, see the Monthly Review of the Texas Economy — September 2010 by Real Estate Center Research Economist Dr. Ali Anari and Chief Economist Dr. Mark G. Dotzour.