Texas job growth slows in April

​​​​AUSTIN ​– The state’s job growth lost momentum last month but still inched upward. 

Texas added 13,000 nonagricultural jobs in April, marking gains in 11 of the last 12 months, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. 

With the job gains, the Texas economy needs to gain almost 457,000 jobs to return to pre-pandemic levels.

April’s seasonally adjusted ​unemployment rate was 6.7 percent, down 0.2 percent from March 2021 and higher than the nation’s rate of 6.1 percent.

"Anecdotal evidence from service sector businesses points toward the lack of available applicants and generous unemployment benefits as major impediments in rehiring workers," said Dr. Luis Torres, research economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center. 

To eliminate the incentive of remaining unemployed, Texas will opt out of further federal unemployment compensation related to the COVID-19 pandemic effective June 26, 2021. The measure would reduce minimum unemployment payments from $19,240 a year to $3,640 a year.​

Amarillo had the lowest nonse​asonally adjusted unemployment rate in the state​ at 4 percent. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission had the highest at 10.3 percent. 

All employment sectors had seasonally adjusted job gains since April 2020 except for mining and logging, which saw employment fall 11.7 percent. The leisure and hospitality sector’s employment jumped 46.1 percent over the year. ​

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