(HOUSTON) Houston’s Manufacturing sector continues to strengthen and remain consistent with it being the fastest growing sector throughout 2018, according to numbers released Friday by Workforce Solutions-Gulf Coast. The growth is continuing with February’s Year-Over-Year figure of 7.6%. The sector gained 5,200 jobs making it the largest-ever one-month gain for the month of February. Durable Goods was the largest contributor to the sector’s increase.
The second fastest growing section in percentage terms is Other Services which saw an increase over the month up 2,700 jobs. This was the largest-ever one-month gain in the month of February.
The largest job sector to add jobs for the month of February was Government with an increase of 8,700 jobs, or 2.1% which is consistent with seasonal trends.
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities did not fare well in February as the downtrend continues. The job sector was down 6,000 jobs overall. A large majority of losses came from Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities followed by Retail Trade.
Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas said its latest analysis suggests the Houston area economic outlook for 2019 is softening. Parker Harvey, Workforce Solutions principal economist, indicated that, “some of the slowdown may be related to the volatility in the financial markets and the price of oil through the end of last year. With both stabilizing in the first quarter, that weakness could dissipate.”
The Houston area’s unemployment rate stood at 4.2%, down from 4.5% from January.
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 March 2019 on April 19, 2019.