Monthly Update: Houston Metro Employment

May '24, Latest Data

Published on 6/24/24

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Metro Houston created 16,100 jobs in May, according to data recently released by the Texas Workforce Commission. That’s somewhat below typical job gains for the month.

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Sectors with the strongest job growth in May were restaurants and bars (4,500 jobs), transportation and warehousing (3,000), construction (2,800), other services (1,700), arts, entertainment, and recreation (1,300), and manufacturing (1,000). A few sectors reported losses, the largest occurring in private education (-1,400 jobs) and professional, scientific, and technical services (-1,100).

In the 12 months ending May ’24, the region created 81,700 jobs. Most of those gains occurred in September, October, and November of ’23. If growth continues at its current pace, the year will likely finish below the long-term annual average of 70,000 jobs.

May’s job gains lifted nonfarm payroll employment to 3,452,600, a record for the region. The previous peak was in December ’23 when total employment topped 3,442,100. Since May ’20, metro Houston has created 620,100 jobs, recovering 172.6 percent of its pandemic losses. One in six jobs in Houston today was created in the past four years.

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All but one sector of Houston’s economy has recovered all the jobs lost in the early stages of the pandemic. The one laggard is energy, which remains marginally below pre-pandemic employment levels. At the current pace, Houston’s energy sector should recoup its lost jobs by June.

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