No labor pains
Dallas job market earns No. 4 ranking in the U.S., bouncing back to pre-pandemic level
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to hammer job markets around the country. But not Dallas and Fort Worth. In November, the Dallas area, Fort Worth-Arlington area, and eight other major metros in the U.S. surpassed the number of jobs they had before the pandemic, a new report says.
Austin was No. 2 in the U.S. and top-ranked in Texas. San Antonio was also in the top 10.
From February 2020 to November 2021, Dallas-Plano-Irving posted a job growth rate of 4.1 percent, landing the area at No. 4 on the jobs list of the best-performing markets among the top 50 metros, according to the report.
In the same time period, Fort Worth-Arlington recorded a job growth rate of 2.2 percent, landing the area at No. 5.
The report comes from the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. Booming Austin posted a job growth rate of 4.11 percent, landing the Capital City at No. 2 among the top 50 metros, slightly below the 4.14 percent rate for the No. 1 rated Salt Lake City area, according to the chamber’s report.
Employers like Amazon, Dell, H-E-B, and Tesla have contributed to the Central Texas area's robust job growth.
But, back to Dallas-Fort Worth. In November 2021, the Dallas area had 2,813,200 jobs, compared with 2,735,400 in February 2020, right before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic.
In November 2021, the Fort Worth-Arlington area had 1,127,800 jobs, compared with 1,103,400 in pre-pandemic February 2020.
"Statewide, over the last 12 months, all private industries added jobs," the report says.
The numbers are not as encouraging in Houston, which experienced a negative 2 percent change, but still landing it in 27th place among the 50 biggest metro areas.
Despite Houston’s job market not having rebounded to its pre-pandemic level, Austin-based job website Indeed recently ranked Houston one of the best U.S. cities for recent graduates seeking employment. Indeed cited opportunities in Houston sectors such as aerospace, aviation, and digital technology.
