| July 16, 2010
Employment
The Texas Workforce Commission reports that the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Area created 600 net new jobs in the month of June, marking the fifth consecutive month of job gains. Though the net increase is small a look at the details suggests a somewhat different picture.
Sector Gains and Losses
The private sector created 13,100 jobs in June with solid gains in several sectors—leisure and hospitality (3,100 jobs); professional and business services (2,600 jobs); trade, transportation, and utilities (2,600 jobs); manufacturing (1,700 jobs) and oil and gas (1,200 jobs). These gains were offset by losses of 12,500 government jobs. Federal employment fell (-4,500 jobs) as Census workers finish their contracts and educational employment dropped (-9,200 jobs) because of teachers and support staff on 10-month contracts.
The offset illustrates the challenge of working with seasonally unadjusted employment data. As teachers leave school for the summer holidays their entry into the job market, albeit temporary, pulls down the job numbers while hotels and restaurants hiring for the vacation season lift the numbers. In the fall, the two will swap places. Leisure and hospitality employment will decline while employment in education will rise.
Employment Trends
Employment in health care and social assistance continued to grow throughout the recession, thanks to Houston’s growing and aging population. Over the past 12 months, the sector added 9,000 jobs. Mining employment has also held up well. In Houston, energy employment is more closely tied to worldwide activity than to anything else. The energy sector has added 1,200 jobs over the past 12 months.
Changes over the past 12 months or from a specific point in time offer a better insight into employment trends. For the 12 months ending June ’10, the Houston region lost 17,100 jobs. As recently as December, the 12 month loss exceeded 100,000 jobs. Private sector employment peaked at 2,268,500 jobs in August ‘08 and trended downward for 17 months, bottoming out at 2,106,100 jobs in January ’10. Since January, the private sector has regained 42,700 of the 162,000 private sector jobs lost in the recession or about 26 percent of the total. Again, these are seasonally unadjusted numbers.
Unemployment Rates
Houston’s June unemployment rate stood at 8.8 percent. The unemployment rate for Austin was 7.4 percent, for Dallas-Fort Worth, 8.5 percent, and for San Antonio 7.1 percent. McAllen had the highest unemployment rate in the state at 12.2 percent and Midland had the lowest at 5.9 percent. The unemployment rate for Texas stood at 8.5 percent and for the United States at 9.6 percent. (All rates are not seasonally adjusted.)
Consumer Price Index
The cost of consumer goods and services, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for All Urban Consumers, rose 1.1 percent nationwide from June ’09 to June ’10, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The over-the-year change in core inflation (all items less food and energy) remained at 0.9 percent for the third month in a row. The 12-month change in core inflation falls below the Federal Reserve Bank’s 1.5 to 2.0 percent target rate.
In the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting of June ’10, participants cited different views of inflation expectations. A few participants stated some risk of deflation while others thought inflation was unlikely to fall given the current monetary policy.
Food and beverage prices nationwide rose 0.7 percent. The cost of food at home showed rose 0.2 percent while the cost of food away from home grew 1.2 percent. Led by a 3.1 percent decrease in household furnishings and operations, housing costs fell 0.6 percent. Transportation costs were up 4.9 percent mostly because of a 16.1 percent increase in the cost of used cars and trucks and a 3.9 percent rise in gasoline prices. Medical care costs rose 3.5 percent largely because the cost of hospital and related services grew 7.4 percent.
Houston CPI
Houston (Harris and the adjoining seven counties) saw overall inflation at 1.3 percent over the year. Medical prices, up 5.6 percent, were primarily responsible for the overall rise in prices. Core inflation in Houston was up 1.7 percent.
The cost of food and beverages decreased 0.2 percent in Houston over the 12 months.
Shelter costs in the region were up 1.5 percent. Household energy costs, led by a 10.1 percent drop in the price of gas and electricity, fell 9.7 percent.
The increases in medical care and shelter costs were partially offset by a 3.4 percent decline in the cost of recreation activities.
Full July CPI data for the nation and July data on costs of food at home, shelter and energy for Houston are scheduled for release on August 13.
Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research Department read more news |
