By Bryan Pope, Associate Editor, Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University
Sept. 26, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) – Texas continues to outperform the United
States in job creation, according to the Real Estate Center’s latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy.
The state gained 271,400 nonfarm jobs from August 2010 to August 2011, an annual growth
rate of 2.6 percent compared with 1 percent for the United States. Texas jobs
created during that period accounted for 21.1 percent of nonfarm jobs created in the nation.
The state’s private sector grew by 284,200 jobs (3.3 percent) compared with 1.6 percent for
the U.S. private sector.
Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 8.5 percent in August 2011
from 8.3 a year earlier. The nation’s rate decreased from 9.5 to 9.1 percent.
All Texas industries except the information industry and the state’s government sector had
more jobs in August 2011 than in August 2010. The state’s mining and logging
industry ranked first in job creation followed by the construction,
professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality industries.
All Texas metro areas except Abilene and Texarkana had more jobs in August 2011 than a
year earlier. Victoria ranked first in job creation, followed by Odessa, Lubbock, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and Midland.
The report was written by Research Economist Dr. Ali Anari and Chief Economist Dr. Mark
Dotzour.
