Real Estate Center’s Monthly Review of the Texas Economy

While the effects of Hurricane Harvey on the Texas economy remain to be seen, the recent shape of the Texas economy was strong. Texas had an annual growth rate of 2.4 percent in nonagricultural jobs from July 2016 to July 2017. This was a gain of 293,400 nonagricultural jobs and was higher than the United States’ employment growth rate of 1.5 percent, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University’s latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy. Nongovernmental jobs grew at a rate of 2.6 percent, higher than the U.S. rate of 1.7 percent, for a total addition of 266,000 jobs.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Texas in July 2017 declined to 4.3 percent from the July 2016 rate of 4.7 percent. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the U.S. also declined, from 4.9 to 4.3 percent. Actual unemployment in Texas was 4.3 percent in July 2017, with Amarillo, Austin-Round Rock, Midland, College Station-Bryan, Sherman-Denison, and Lubbock as the cities with the lowest unemployment.

Aside from the information industry, all industries in Texas had more jobs this July than July 2016. Mining and logging ranked first for job creation, with the sectors following including financial activities, manufacturing, and transportation, warehousing, and utilities.  

For job creation, Dallas-Plano-Irving came in first among Texas cities, with Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Fort Worth-Arlington, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Corpus Christi, and Sherman-Denison following. Waco, Abilene, Beaumont-Port Arthur, San Angelo, and Texarkana were the only Texas metro areas that did not have more jobs in July 2017 than in July 2016.