(HOUSTON) Restaurants, Bars and Entertainment venues expanded their workforces in May, adding 13,100 people to their payrolls last month as Houston hiring continues to heat up. Overall, the region added 31,000 jobs – resulting in three of the last four months posting job growth in excess of 30,000 (not-seasonally-adjusted), according to data released this morning by Workforce Solutions. April’s Total Nonfarm employment was also revised upward by 1,200 mainly driven by an additional 1,400 new hires in the Manufacturing sector.
“The Leisure & Hospitality sector saw its second biggest gain on record,” said Workforce Solutions economist Parker Harvey. The largest gain in this sector was reported in May 2020 when the state ended Coronavirus-related shut downs. Hiring in the Construction sector saw its largest ever gain on record, adding 9,200 jobs in May and 20,000 jobs cumulatively since February.
“It’s possible the Construction sector is playing catch-up after lagging behind for most of the post-pandemic rebound,” Harvey cautioned. “Rising interest rates will start to have an impact at some point this year.”
Professional & Business Services added 7,500 jobs in May, making it the third largest-gaining sector. But Harvey reminds us that, “This sector has been revised downward quite significantly in some months. Not to mention that growth is mainly coming from Administrative and Support Services with negligible gains coming from the Architectural and Engineering portion associated with oil and gas.”
Not-seasonally adjusted unemployment rose slightly from April’s 4.1 percent to May’s 4.3 percent. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April fell slightly to 4.8 percent from 5.0 in March.
Additional labor market information, including the detailed May report, can be found online at: www.wrksolutions.com/localstats. The Texas Workforce Commission will release May employment data on July 15, 2022.