(HOUSTON) Houston-area employers filled 18,700 positions in April, led by Professional & Business Services, Leisure & Hospitality, & Retail positions according to new data from Gulf Coast Workforce Solutions. The unemployment rate drop nearly half a point to 5.3%.
“This is the third best April report on record,” said Parker Harvey, Senior Regional Economist at Workforce Solutions. “Hiring was especially strong at the employment services level, which includes temporary work. Typically, that is a prelude to a permanent position meaning employers are feeling confidence in the overall economy going into the summer.”
Leisure and Hospitality and Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (which includes retail sales positions) contributed nearly 9,000 jobs in April. Manufacturing, particularly durable goods, saw its best one-month growth on record in April as employers there hired 2,400 workers.
“Since hitting the most recent bottom this past November, manufacturers have added about 12,000 jobs,” Harvey explains, “but we’re still well below the area’s high-water mark set in December, 2014.”
The Texas Workforce Commission will release employment numbers for May 2017 on June 16.