Dallas Fed: Texas employment forecast strengthens; 31,800 jobs added in April
May 19, 2023
DALLAS—The Texas Employment Forecast released today by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicates that jobs will increase 2.6 percent in 2023, with an 80 percent confidence band of 2.0 to 3.2 percent.
This is up from the previous month’s forecast of 2.4 percent growth for the year.
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.
Texas added 31,800 jobs in April, according to seasonally adjusted and benchmarked payroll employment numbers included in the report.
Texas added an upwardly revised 36,400 jobs in March.
“By adding close to 32,000 jobs in April, Texas year-to-date job growth is a solid 3.7 percent as the labor market continues to demonstrate resiliency,” said Luis Torres, Dallas Fed senior business economist. “Strength in April was led by an increase in employment in information services, other services and leisure and hospitality. Construction jobs posted strong losses, while financial services jobs slightly declined.”
Additional key takeaways from the latest Dallas Fed report:
- The forecast suggests that 352,000 jobs will be added in the state this year, and employment in December 2023 will be 14.1 million.
- Texas employment grew 2.8 percent month over month in April after an upward revision in March to 3.2 percent.
The unemployment rate decreased in most of Texas’ major metro areas, including Dallas–Plano–Irving, San Antonio–New Braunfels, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, Austin–Round Rock, El Paso, Fort Worth–Arlington, Laredo, Brownsville–Harlingen and McAllen–Edinburg–Mission, according to seasonally adjusted numbers from the Dallas Fed.
The Texas unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.0 percent in April.
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:
Jon Prior
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Phone: 214-922-6857
Email: jon.prior@dal.frb.org