Dallas Fed: Texas employment forecast strengthens; 49,000 jobs added in February

DALLAS—The Texas Employment Forecast released today by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicates that jobs will increase 2.5 percent in 2024, with an 80 percent confidence band of 1.9 to 3.1 percent.

This is an increase from the previous month’s forecast for 2024.

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 49,000 jobs in February, according to seasonally adjusted and benchmarked payroll employment numbers.

Texas added 22,000 jobs in January, a figure that was revised downward.

“Job growth accelerated in February, with broad-based gains seen across most industries,” said Luis Torres, Dallas Fed senior business economist. “The outlook for growth in the first half has improved by 0.6 percentage points. Strong job gains in February, continued solid U.S. economic growth, and recent increases in oil prices have bolstered the forecast. Though higher oil prices hurt consumers, the rise is a net positive for Texas economic growth.”

Additional key takeaways from the latest Dallas Fed report:

• The forecast suggests that 352,800 jobs will be added in the state this year, and employment in December 2024 will be 14.4 million.
• Texas employment grew an annualized 4.3 percent month over month in February, while January growth was revised downward slightly to 1.9 percent.

The unemployment rate increased in Austin–Round Rock, Brownsville–Harlingen, Dallas–Plano–Irving, El Paso, Fort Worth–Arlington, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, Laredo, and San Antonio–New Braunfels, according to seasonally adjusted numbers from the Dallas Fed.

The Texas statewide unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.9 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:
Jon Prior
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Phone: 214-922-6857
Email: jon.prior@dal.frb.org