(HOUSTON) The Houston area added 16,900 more jobs in 2017 than originally estimated according to newly revised data published by Workforce Solutions-Gulf Coast.
“The Texas Workforce Commission surveys employers on an ongoing monthly basis to get a first look at the employment picture,” said Parker Harvey, senior economist at Workforce Solutions. “Those numbers are then revised up or down based on new data such as the number of workers an employer pays for into the state’s unemployment insurance fund.”
For 2017, the state under-estimated Houston’s job growth, by more than 36,000, the number of new jobs in key sectors such as Construction, Trade, Transportation & Utilities (mostly retail), and Mining & Logging (which includes the oil and gas industry). Those gains were partly offset by an over-estimation of jobs added in Educational & Health Services, Manufacturing, and local government jobs.
“This revised estimate suggests significant strengthening of the job market this year,” Harvey explained, adding that the growth is due, at least in part, to the impact of Hurricane Harvey in late August. “Given the role construction plays in post-Harvey recovery, it’s not surprising we saw an upward revision.”
Harvey notes that the growth in the Construction sector is now at levels not seen since late 2015 and reverses a downward trend that began after the most recent oil & gas downtown.