Texas economy returns to pre-pandemic employment levels after 19 months: report
After 19 months of fairly consistent economic growth, the Texas economy has finally recovered the jobs lost due to the pandemic.
The state added 50,000 new jobs in December, a 0.4% increase over November, according to a new report from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center.
The Texas economy is now 89,600 jobs above the employment level in February 2020.
The state’s unemployment rate, however, is slower to recover, the report found.
The national rate has fallen to 3.9%, while Texas’ remains at 5%, falling 0.2% since November. Prior to the pandemic, Texas had an unemployment rate of 3.7%.
The state unemployment rate isn’t sluggish for lack of jobs. For the fifth month in a row (July to November), job openings were higher than the number of unemployed Texans.
The less robust transition from unemployment to employment could result from “childcare, the lingering pandemic, early retirement, and the possibility that people are rethinking their career paths,” the report noted.
