Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

03/24/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 03/24/2023 16:37

Dallas Fed: Texas adds 51,600 jobs in February; employment forecast unchanged

News Releases

March 24 2023

DALLAS-Texas added 51,600 jobs in February, according to seasonally adjusted and benchmarked payroll employment numbers released today by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Texas added a revised 61,500 jobs in January.

The Texas Employment Forecast indicates that jobs will increase 2.8 percent in 2023, with an 80 percent confidence band of 2.1 to 3.5 percent. The forecast is based on an average of four models that include projected national GDP, oil futures prices, and the Texas and U.S. leading indexes.

"February job growth was strong overall, but gains in the service industries masked declines in the goods-producing industries," said Luis Torres, Dallas Fed senior business economist.

"Strength in February was led by employment increases in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, other services, and education and health services. The goods-producing sector posted losses in energy, construction and manufacturing," he said.

Additional key takeaways from the latest Dallas Fed report:

  • The forecast suggests that 385,000 jobs will be added in the state this year, and employment in December 2023 will be 14.1 million.
  • Texas employment grew an annualized 4.6 percent in February after increasing a revised 5.5 percent in January.

The unemployment rate rose in all of Texas' nine major metro areas : Austin-Round Rock, Brownsville-Harlingen, Dallas-Plano-Irving, El Paso, Fort Worth-Arlington, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Laredo, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and San Antonio-New Braunfels, according to seasonally adjusted numbers from the Dallas Fed.

The Texas unemployment rate increased from 3.9 percent in January to 4.0 percent in February.

Additional information about the Texas Employment Forecast, plus seasonally adjusted and benchmarked Texas jobs data and metro unemployment rates, may be found on DallasFed.org.

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Media contact:
James Hoard
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Phone: 214-922-5307
Email:[email protected]