February winter storm ends nine months of Texas job gains

​​AUSTIN – ​Texas lost 27,500 jobs in February, ending nine straight months of gains, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. 

The seasonally adju​​sted unemployment rate increased to 6.9 percent from 6.8 percent the previous month. 

"As expected, the winter storm impacted the state’s labor market in February," said Texas Real Estate Research Center Research Economist Dr. Luis Torres. "March employment numbers should rebound." 

"Due to the jobs lost last month, the Texas economy now needs to gain almost 593,000 jobs in the coming months to return to pre-pandemic levels," said Torres. 

Texas’ nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5 percent in February, while the nation’s was 6.6 percent.

Amarillo had the lowest nonse​asonally adjusted unemployment rate in the state​ at 5.1 percent. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission had the highest at 12 percent. 

All employment sectors had seasonally adjusted job losses since February 2020 except for trade, transportation, and utilities, which grew 0.1 percent. Mining and logging had the largest job loss with employment falling 23.7 percent.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has a wealth of economic information online for free.

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