No labor pains

Dallas job market earns No. 4 ranking in the U.S., bouncing back to pre-pandemic level

Dallas got back to work.

Photo by Joe Daniel Price/Getty Images

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.

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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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