Nationally, employers created 1.4 percent more jobs during that same 12-month period, or nearly 1.8 million positions. Six months earlier, the nation was adding 0.5 percent jobs on an annualized basis, while Houston was adding none. Resources.
But September now marks the third consecutive month Houston has had year-over-year job gains in excess of 1 percent, said Joel Wagher, labor market analyst for the WorkSource. The last time Houston had grown by at least 1 percent on a year-over-year basis was October 2001.
Job growth is spread throughout many important sectors of the Houston-area economy including mining and heavy industrial manufacturing as well as key services such as legal, computer, engineering and accounting, Wagher said.
The Houston area includes Harris, Waller, Liberty, Chambers, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.
Temporary service firms have also stepped up their hiring, which is a sign employers need additional workers. Many employers prefer to use temps until it's clear the economy has improved enough to hire permanent employees.
"I'm still surprised that government growth is still strong at 3.3 percent over the year, and most of it is in local government," Wagher said. With state and local budget problems, it's surprising that state and local government offices still have the resources to create new jobs.
The Houston area's unemployment rate dipped to 5.9 percent in September, compared with 6.3 percent in August. The rate in Texas was 5.4 percent, down 0.4 percentage points.
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Posted by: m | October 27, 2004 at 08:04 PM