Austin’s jobless rate holds steady at 3.5%
Payrolls in Central Texas continue to grow at a healthy pace.
The Central Texas job market maintained its healthy pace of payroll growth in September, and the area’s jobless rate held steady, according to data released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission.
The jobless rate for the Austin metro area was unchanged at 3.5 percent last month, according to the Workforce Commission.
Central Texas employers had 28,600 more people on their payrolls in September compared to the same month a year ago, a 3 percent annual growth rate.
Drew Scheberle, senior vice president of education for the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, the numbers show the region continues to provide new jobs in the midst of a population boom.
“Austin is still booming in the higher wage service industries, absorbing in-migration, and improving our median household income,” Scheberle said. “All good news.”
The Austin-Round Rock metro area — which includes Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties — tied with the Amarillo area for the state’s lowest metro unemployment rates in September.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, which adjusts metro jobless figures for seasonal changes, said the Austin area’s unemployment rate was even lower at 3.4 percent.
The workforce commission report, which includes labor figures on other metro areas and Texas, signaled positive signs continue for the state’s workforce picture as well, officials said.
The statewide jobless rate, which is adjusted for seasonal labor trends, rose to 4.8 percent in September from 4.7 percent in August. However, that’s below the national rate of 5 percent.
“Our economy continues to offer many diverse opportunities to job seekers,” Julian Alvarez,
Only one major sector in the region posted a decline for the year: Manufacturing is down 4,000 jobs, or 6.9 percent.
a commissioner who represents labor for the Texas Workforce Commission, said in a written statement Friday. “I encourage those seeking these opportunities to take advantage of the workforce services available through their local Workforce Solutions office for help finding the job that’s right for them.”
For the month, the state added about 38,300 jobs. Of that, the leisure and hospitality industry recorded the largest industry employment gain with 17,900 jobs, whole professional and business services employment grew by 6,000 jobs. Construction jobs grew for the third consecutive month,adding3,400newjobs.
“Texas employers continue demonstrating their competitiveness by adding 38,300 jobs in September, for a total of 206,800 jobs added over the year,” said Andres Alcantar, workforce commission chairman. “This continued growth in a diverse range of industries creates valuable opportunities for our state’s worldclass workforce and builds on Texas’ continued success as a global economic leader.”
For the Austin region, area construction payrolls expanded by 4,800 jobs year-over-year in September. That’s an 8.6 percent growth rate and marking the region’s fastest job growth since September 2015.
The area’s professional and business services sector added 6,000 jobs on an annual basis, a 3.7 percent growth rate over the past 12 months. Another fast-growing sector for the region, financial services, added 3,200 jobs for a 5.9 percent gain.
Only one major sector in the region posted a decline for the year: Manufacturing is down 4,000 jobs, or 6.9 percent.
Scheberle said the report, however, also shows that the region’s economy still has room to improve.
For example, he said, the decline in local manufacturing jobs is largely driven by the region’s skyrocketing property taxes and highlights the need to address the state’s school finance system in the upcoming legislative session.
“This jobs report reinforces that as local property taxes continue to increase, it’s more challenging to attract traditional manufacturing,” he said. The city of Austin “should encourage the Texas Legislature to revisit the school finance system in 2017, since state policy is designed to drive up local school property taxes... typically the largest tax paid by a manufacturer.”
And other areas can be addressed, Scheberle said, such as boosting area education for high-demand jobs in programming as well as having city leaders address area economic development efforts.
“While there is a lot of great news in the jobs report,” he said, “this should be further encouragement to the city of Austin to revisit its economic development policy to make us a more attractive location.”