(HOUSTON) Houston-area employers hired more than 14,000 people during March with seven of the eleven industries gaining jobs according to numbers released this morning by Workforce Solutions.
The Leisure and Hospitality sector, led by hiring at hotels and restaurants, added 2,200 employees per week over the last month, the largest one-month gain on record. “Most of the growth in this sector appears to have been delayed from February, which posted a loss of 1,100 jobs,” said Parker Harvey, senior economist at Workforce Solutions. “When you factor both months together, hiring is right in line with the long-term average.”
Professional & Business Services also gained jobs in March with most of the hiring in the Professional Services subsector. Harvey says this indicates major industries are adding permanent white-collar jobs, “Employment Services, such as temp-to-hire agencies, actually lost jobs in March meaning companies are likely skipping the ‘temp’ part and going straight to the ‘hire.’”
Harvey also notes that the Mining & Logging sector, specifically oil and gas extraction, added jobs again last month breaking a nearly 5-year-long drought, “It’s the first time since March 2014 that the extraction subsector has added jobs year-over-year.”
The Houston-area unemployment rate dropped by one-half of one percent in March to 3.7%, settling below the U.S. unemployment rate of 3.9%.
Additional labor market information and the detailed January report can be found at wrksolutions.com/localstats. The Texas Workforce Commission will release employment numbers for April 2019 on May 17, 2019.