(HOUSTON) Following five full months of positive job growth, expected summer layoffs in public-sector education dragged down overall employment figures in July, according to data released Friday by Gulf Coast Workforce Solutions.
“This is a pretty typical mid-summer report,” said Parker Harvey senior economist at Workforce Solutions, “In July and August we typically see a temporary shedding of jobs in public education as we approach the upcoming academic year.” He adds that this dip reverses itself by September.
“Keep in mind too, that since this time last year, the area has added more than 54,000 jobs. Most of which have been in sectors important to Houston’s overall economy” such as the Mining and Logging sector, which includes the Oil & Gas industry. “July was the first-time job growth has been positive in this sector since January 2015,” Harvey said.
The region’s unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent from June’s 5.3 percent.
The Texas Workforce Commission will release employment numbers for August 2017 on September 15.