Job numbers are still looking good in the Fort Worth and Arlington area.
The region continued its trend of adding jobs in October, after a slight dip in September.The metro added 11,000 jobs in October, a 5.4% increase compared to the same time last year.
The unemployment rate in the area is 3.4% not seasonally adjusted.
The numbers reflect the statewide trend of strong job growth this year despite fears of recession from high interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. In October, the state added 49,500 nonfarm jobs, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
Texas has more than 1 million job openings in the state, the most ever.
Leading the job growth change this month was the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 4,800 jobs, a 3.5% increase after two consecutive months of loss.
The trade, transport and utilities sector followed, with 3,400 jobs. The least amount of jobs added were in the aerospace products and parts manufacturing, other services and information.
Fort Worth and Arlington’s education and health services along with leisure and hospitality sectors outpace the state’s growth by 4.5% and 7.5%, according to the Texas Workforce Commission data.
However, the Fort Worth and Arlington trail behind in growth within the information, financial activities, professional and business services, government, manufacturing sectors compared with the state.
There are signs that the economy is starting to slow despite the continued strong job numbers.
Laila Assanie, senior business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said jobs are a big driver for an economy. When people have jobs, they have money to spend. Given that spending accounts for 70% of U.S. GDP, it is a big boost to overall growth, she said.
“Without jobs, people wouldn’t earn money,” Assanie said. “And if they didn’t earn money, they wouldn’t be able to spend that money.”
Assanie said employment has started to slow in pace – from 4.9% in the first quarter to 3.9% in the third quarter of this year. Typically, the average growth rate for the area is between 2 and 2.5%.
“I think our expectation also is that going into 2023, employment growth will be more in line with the average pace of growth that we see in a typical year versus this elevated rate of growth that we have experienced in the past year and a half,” Assanie said.
The next job update from the Texas Workforce Commission comes out Dec. 16.
Seth Bodine is a business and economic development reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at seth.bodine@fortworthreport.org and follow on Twitter at @sbodine120.
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