Job growth up as oil and gas roars back

Oil and gas industry is a leader as more rigs return to duty

Texas posts another month of strong job growth, adding 14,800 positions in May and bringing the growth rate up to 2.2 percent, led by oil and gas jobs that are rushing back as producers put rigs back into production.

Texas posted another month of strong job growth in May, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday, led by oil and gas jobs that are rushing back as producers send rigs back to work.

The state added 14,800 positions last month, bringing the annual growth rate to 2.2 percent — a significant improvement from the 1.8 percent rate at which the state was growing at the end of 2016. Unemployment fell slightly to 4.4 percent, coming close to the national rate of 4.1 percent.

Oil and gas led job growth in May with 6,600 new jobs amid fears that labor shortages could curtail the recovery of drilling in the red-hot Permian Basin. Construction and financial activities followed, adding 3,400 and 3,200 jobs over the month respectively.

Houston fared well too, bringing its annual job growth rate up to 1.5 percent, accelerating from 1.4 percent in April and 1.1 percent in March. Hospitality and leisure was the biggest driver, delivering the largest one-month jump on record for May. Houston’s unemployment rate stood at 5.1 percent, which is only slightly above where it was at this time last year and down from its oil bust high of 5.9 percent in February.

The oil and gas rally has spurred activity across indus-

trial sectors, with manufacturing and construction also adding positions — a turnaround from a nearly two-year period of contraction in the goods-producing part of the economy.

Manufacturing in Houston is now up 3.9 percent over the year, particularly in fabricated metals, after taking a dive in 2015. That’s especially positive news, since those jobs tend to be better paid than the jobs in health care and hospitality that had accounted for most of Houston’s growth over that period.