Austin jobless rate up, but job growth stays strong

AUSTIN – The Austin metro area had a jobless rate of 4.1 percent in May 2014, up from 3.8 percent in April 2014, but down from a 5.2 percent rate seen in May 2013, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

Texas as a whole saw its unemployment rate dip to 5.1 percent after adjusting for seasonal workforce patterns. The state posted its largest net year-over-year job gain in nearly 17 years.

Overall, the Austin area added a net 5,300 jobs in the region that includes Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties.

Those gains were led by construction and by the leisure and hospitality sector, which each had a net gain of 1,200 workers.

Texas’ economy added 56,400 jobs in May 2014 and 383,100 jobs since May 2013, marking the largest annual job gain since September 1997.

Read more at the Austin American-Statesman.

For more stats on employment and other sectors, see the Texas Workforce Commission and Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos Market Data Sources.