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Dallas Fed: Texas added 11,100 jobs in November; state employment forecast remains 1.3 percent for 2015

For immediate release: December 18, 2015

DALLAS—Texas added 11,100 jobs in November, according to seasonally adjusted and benchmarked payroll employment numbers released today by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

The state added a revised 19,500 jobs in October. Through November, jobs have grown at an annualized pace of 1.3 percent after growing 3.6 percent in 2014.

Incorporating November’s employment data, the Texas employment forecast stands at 1.3 percent, suggesting 150,500 jobs will be added in Texas this year. The forecast remained unchanged from October.

“In the face of the lowest three-month average oil price since March 2009, the Texas economy continued to add jobs through November,” said Keith R. Phillips, Dallas Fed assistant vice president and senior economist.

Despite its strong ties to the energy sector, job growth along Texas Gulf Coast has held steady this year, Phillips noted. Through November, jobs have grown at an annual pace of 0.1 percent in Houston and 0.9 percent in Corpus Christi.
“The Texas Gulf Coast has been buffered from the decline in energy prices by strong expansion in petrochemicals, health care and leisure and hospitality,” Phillips said.

The Bank will release its 2016 Texas employment forecast on January 12.

Unemployment rates rose in six of nine major Texas metro areas in November, according to seasonally adjusted numbers from the Dallas Fed. The unemployment rates in Austin-Round Rock (3.3 percent), Dallas-Plano-Irving (3.9 percent) and El Paso (5.2 percent) remained unchanged in November.

The Dallas Fed improves the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) payroll employment estimates for Texas by incorporating preliminary benchmarks into the data in a more timely manner and by using a two-step seasonal adjustment technique. Texas metropolitan area unemployment rates from the BLS also are seasonally adjusted by the Dallas Fed.

The Dallas Fed releases its Texas employment forecast on a monthly basis in conjunction with the release of monthly Texas employment data. The forecast projects job growth for the calendar year and is estimated as the 12-month change in payroll employment from December to December.

For information on the methodology for the Bank’s Texas employment forecast, visit the Dallas Fed’s website.

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Media contact:
Alexander Johnson
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Phone: (214) 922-5288
Email: alexander.johnson@dal.frb.org