Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.

TEXAS JOB CREATION OUTPACES U.S.

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas continues to outperform the United States in job creation according to the Real Estate Center's latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy.

The state gained 271,400 nonfarm jobs from August 2010 to August 2011, an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent compared with 1 percent for the United States. Texas jobs created during that period accounted for 21.1 percent of nonfarm jobs created in the nation.

The state's private sector grew by 284,200 jobs (3.3 percent) compared with 1.6 percent for the U.S. private sector.

Texas' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 8.5 percent in August 2011 from 8.3 a year earlier. The nation's rate decreased from 9.5 to 9.1 percent.

All Texas industries except the information industry and the state's government sector had more jobs in August 2011 than in August 2010. The state's mining and logging industry ranked first in job creation followed by the construction, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality industries.

All Texas metro areas except Abilene and Texarkana had more jobs in August 2011 than a year earlier. Victoria ranked first in job creation, followed by Odessa, Lubbock, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and Midland.

The report was written by Research Economist Dr. Ali Anari and Chief Economist Dr. Mark Dotzour.