The Austin metropolitan area added 14,100 jobs, or 1.8% in the past year, giving the region the fifth best performing among the 50 largest U.S. metros, according to information from the Texas Workforce Commission and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The metropolitan region of Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, which has been heralded as a recession-proof economy, showed some slower year-over-year job growth compared to the state of Texas, which grew 2.4%.
Dallas takes the top spot with job growth of 3.1%.
Austin’s year-over-year private sector job growth was 2.4% compared to the state’s 3.0% increase. Both the state and the metro saw only 0.1% gains in government jobs.
Nationally, 1.39 million jobs (1.1%) were added over twelve months ending in April. Total U.S. jobs remain 8 million or 5.8% off the peak of November 2007. Jobs in both Texas and Austin peaked a year later. Texas needs to add another 114,000 jobs or 1.1% to be back at the level seen in November 2008. As of April, Austin’s jobs total is now less than 0.3% or 2,300 off Austin’s November 2008 peak.
Telecommunications jobs in the Austin area held at a preliminary 5,000 for April, showing no change from 5,000 jobs one year ago.
The related industries of computers and electronic product manufacturing had 23,500 jobs, up 500 from last year, while computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing showed 7,200 positions, down 200 from last year. The semiconductor industry is growing in Austin, likely due to the expansion of Samsung in north Austin. Positions totaled 11,800 jobs, up 300 from April 2010.
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