Overall job gains are so promising, the Dallas Federal Reserve is predicting the state to reach a full pandemic job recovery by January.
Texas is turning a corner.
The Lone Star State posted some promising job gains last month, and there’s one sector that’s surprisingly leading the way.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the leisure and hospitality industry posted the highest number of jobs in September, with 31,000 new jobs added.
Restaurants, hotels and other businesses within the hospitality industry have endured labor shortages and other struggles this year, following layoffs and lockdowns in 2020.
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For the past week, the U.S. hotel occupancy reached 65%, the highest level since mid-August but still down 10% from the same week in 2019. Experts warn the industry is still susceptible to COVID-19 surges.
The construction industry also posted some promising job numbers.
These overall job gains are so promising that the Dallas Federal Reserve is predicting the state to reach a full pandemic job recovery within months, potentially reaching pre-pandemic employment levels by January.
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Overall, Texas employers added 95,000 jobs in September, the strongest for hiring since March.
Texas is also seeing higher wage growth than the rest of the nation, as the unemployment rate for the state now sits at about 5.6% according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
Some more good news for North Texas – the DFW metro area has a better unemployment rate than the rest of the state. Also, out of the 50 largest metros across the entire country, it ranks just 5th in terms of new jobs added last month.
