The Austin area added 6,200 private-sector jobs in the 12-month period between November 2007 and November 2008—the 10th biggest gain in metro employment in the country—according to figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Texas is showing considerable resilience amid a crippled national economy. The two largest markets in the state—Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth—registered the nation’s biggest private-sector employment gains.
Source: Austin Business Journal
To compile this list, Forbes asked Moody’s Economy.com to compile a list of the country’s real estate markets that are nearest to recovery. Moody’s looked at the country’s Census-defined metro areas–including metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas–with populations over 500,000, and prepared forecasts through 2011. They then compared them to prices in the second quarter of 2008, which are the latest figures available, to calculate how far prices will likely fall before reaching bottom.
Source: Forbes
Houston, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth are 1-2-3 in the latest employment rankings of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. The three Texas markets have added a total of 107,200 private-sector jobs since mid-2007, while keeping their unemployment rates below 5 percent.
Texas’ impressive performance, ironically enough, is partially the result of higher energy costs, the same factor that has bedeviled much of the rest of the nation.
“The state’s natural resources and mining industry, helped by higher oil prices, posted an annual employment growth rate of 6.4 percent from June 2007 to June 2008 and ranked first among Texas industries in employment-growth rate,” said a midyear report from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
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