(HOUSTON, Texas, April 21, 2025) Houston-area employment grew by an anemic 5,700 jobs during March, according to numbers released Monday by Workforce Solutions – Gulf Coast. This was the weakest March hiring since 2019 (excluding pandemic-related losses in 2020). Overall, six of the eleven industries tracked reported positive job growth last month.
The Leisure & Hospitality sector, the big winner during March, added 3,100 new jobs, mostly in the Restaurants and Drinking Establishments subsector. Parker Harvey, the agency’s Manager for Regional Economic Analysis said that a typical March adds 4,400 new jobs in the sector, putting last month’s growth moderately below the long-term average. The Texas Workforce Commission also revised February’s report upward by 400 jobs.
Hiring in the Government sector was well above the long-term average, adding 2,600 jobs. Other sectors seeing growth in March include Construction (+1,300), Private Education & Health Services (+1,700), Manufacturing (+700), and Other Services (+1,900).
The Professional & Business Services sector continues to be the weak spot, reporting a loss of 4,200 jobs, the largest-ever one-month decline during March on record. The Professional & Business Services sector includes most so-called “white collar” jobs as well as waste management and remediation services such as janitorial services.
Not-Seasonally Adjusted unemployment ticked lower during March to 4.2 percent from February’s 4.5 percent. Due to methodological changes, the Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate for February is not available.
Additional labor market information, including the detailed March report, can be found online at www.wrksolutions.com/localstats. The Texas Workforce Commission will release April employment data on May 16, 2025.
ABOUT WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS: Workforce Solutions is dedicated to keeping the Texas Gulf Coast region a great place to do business, work and live. Our employer-driven, people-focused approach elevates the economic and human potential of the region to attract and retain the best employers, afford everyone the dignity of a job, and remain indispensable to the global economy. As the public workforce system for 13 counties in the Houston-Galveston region, we work in tandem with the Texas Workforce Commission and the statewide Workforce Solutions network to maintain the state’s largest job-match database – www.WorkInTexas.com.