Metro Area Employment

In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update metro area employment conditions in November.

• Dallas and Houston have locked horns as to who has been creating more jobs.  In the past 12 months to November, Dallas-Fort Worth added 73,000 net new jobs while Houston is one better with 85,000.  Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana also added 85,000, but due to its much larger population the percentage growth rate is a full percentage point below the Texas cities.  Note that the raw size of the job gains is equivalent to adding a stadium full of people into the local economy.
• Other high flyers in both raw and percentage growth have been Phoenix with 51,000 net new jobs, San Jose (33,000), Denver (34,000), Charlotte (23,000), and Austin (35,000), and Seattle (46,000).
• Among smaller markets with percentage gains exceeding 5 percent growth from one year ago, Sandusky (OH), Elkhart (IN), Ft. Wayne (IN), Pascagoula (MS), Odessa (TX).
• The absolute top-hot market is Lafayette, Louisiana, which added 15,600 net new jobs representing 10.1 percent growth in one year.  Visualize 10 people circled up in a group; one person is a new addition.  This Louisiana city is giving proper due respect to its tough namesake, General Lafayette, who helped George Washington repel the British, though sadly he was later locked up by Napoleon for spreading American Revolutionary ideas during the French Revolution.
• North Dakota no longer shows up as the top flyer, but has been consistently adding jobs in the past 10 years, completely forgetting there was a national economic recession.
• Nationwide, the job market is slowly improving with 155,000 net new payroll jobs in December and 1.8 million from 12 months ago.  It is still short by 3 million from the prior peak.