(HOUSTON) More than 10,000 Houstonians went back to work in March, continuing a local hiring spree that began in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Workforce Solutions-Gulf Coast announced today.
For the second month in a row, the Professional & Business Services sector lead the pack, adding an additional 5,600 jobs in March. The biggest contributor coming from the temp-to-hire services and full-time administrative support services sub sectors.
“March is typically a good month for this sector,” said Parker Harvey, senior economist at Workforce Solution. “But today’s report is well above the long-term average and is also the biggest one-month gain in March on record.”
“The biggest takeaway, though, is that this sector is growing at a pace of 5.5%, which we haven’t seen since the oil downturn began in early 2015,” he added.
Construction hiring slowed slightly in March, compared to one month earlier, adding just 900 jobs. However, the state revised upward the number of construction jobs added in February to 6,400 versus the original estimate of 3,700.
The Houston area’s not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate fell 0.1% to 4.6%.
The Texas Workforce Commission will release figures for April 2018, on May 18.
A copy of the report can be obtained from the Workforce Solutions website, www.wrksolutions.com.