Houston jobless rate falls to new low

Unemployment in Houston fell to a record low for April as the region’s employers added jobs for the 15th consecutive month, supported by an expanding energy industry and strong national economy.

The jobless rate in the region plummeted to 3.2 percent, down from 4.2 percent in April 2018. It’s the lowest April unemployment rate since the statistical series began in 1990, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

The region added 6,000 jobs last month, after gaining more than 11,000 in March and 7,500 in February, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday. The local economy has generated more than 80,000 jobs over the past year, increasing at rate of 2.7 percent. That matched the state’s rate of job growth while easily outpacing that of the nation, where employment grew 1.8 percent from April 2018.

The national economy continued its remarkable run of more than 100 consecutive months of job growth in April, adding more than 260,000 jobs as the expansion, which began in June 2009, is all but certain to become the longest in U.S. history. Oil prices, while far from stratospheric, remain healthy, settling near $63 a barrel Friday.

“Those two factors are helping us out,” Parker Harvey, principal economist at the workforce development organization Workforce Solutions. “That’s the wind at our backs.”

All about oil

In Houston, the oil and gas industry, which drives the local economy, is chugging along. Employment in the energy services sector grew by 4,400 jobs over the past year, a surge of 11 percent. Oil and gas extraction added 300 jobs over the year.

Manufacturing, which is closely tied to the energy sector, gained nearly 15,000 jobs from April 2018, an increase of nearly 7 percent. Construction employment climbed by 2 percent, or 4,500 jobs, over the year.

Among service industries, professional and business services, which encompass firms from law to consulting to engineering, added some 22,000 jobs over the past year, up nearly 5 percent. Educational and health services gained more than 14,000 jobs from April 2018, and leisure and hospitality — restaurants, hotels and tourism-related businesses— added 8,300 jobs over the year.

“It was a pretty good month,” Harvey said.

For Texas, too. The state added 29,000 jobs last month, and more than 280,000 over the year, the Texas Workforce Commission reported. It was the 108th consecutive month of year-over-year job growth, the agency said.

State record

The state unemployment rate, adjusted for seasonal variations, fell to 3.7 percent, returning to the record low reached in December. Professional and business services led the April employment gains, adding 8,400 jobs over the month. Construction added nearly 6,000 jobs, and education and health services gained more than 4,000 jobs.

The mining and logging sector, which is dominated by the oil and gas industry, gained 2,700 jobs in April. Over the year, the sector grew by more than 16,000 jobs, or 7 percent.