After suffering through a weak economy with double-digit months of  unemployment, Texas appears to be near the top of the heap in the country and on an economic upswing.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the District of Colombia and five states reported statistically significant increases.  Texas posted the largest statistically significant year-over-the-year employment increases adding 134,600 jobs.  The other states which saw increases were Indiana, up 47,600 jobs, Massachusetts, up 36,600, New Hampshire up 8,700 and North Dakota up 6,200.   Four states saw statistically significant job losses, overcoming the positive gains from the states with increases, thus causing a countrywide stagnation.  States with the most job losses included California realizing a 103,900 loss, New York with a loss of 51,400, Georgia with a loss of 39,100 and New Jersey with a loss of 34,000.

According to recent information released by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, Texas has had three months of positive annual employment growth after 16 months of job losses.   The growth rate from July 2009 to July 2010 was 1.3 percent for the entire state, compared with a rate close to zero percent for the nation.   Nineteen Texas metro areas had positive employment growth rates with San Angelo leading the state with a percent growth rate of 3% followed by College Station at 2.9% and the Austin area with 2.5% growth.  Other metro areas such as Dallas, Corpus Christi, and El Paso saw a positive growth rate in employment also.  San Antonio and Houston had a slight decline in employment.

Texas Metropolitan Areas Ranked by Employment Growth Rate,

July 2009 to July 2010 (Rank Metro Area Percent Growth Rate)

1.            San Angelo (3.0)

2.            College Station-Bryan (2.9)

3.            Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos (2.5)

4.            McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (2.0)

5.            Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood (1.9)

6.            Dallas-Plano-Irving (1.3)

Texas  (1.3)

7.            Corpus Christi (1.0)

8.            Sherman-Denison (0.7)

8.            Lubbock (0.7)

8.            Odessa (0.7)

8.            El Paso (0.7)

Source: Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University

In addition, all Texas industries except the construction and information industries had more jobs in July 2010 compared with July 2009 numbers.

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