Austin unemployment rate falls to 7.1%, adds 4,600 jobs

Friday, April 16, 2010, 10:18am CDT

Austin unemployment rate falls to 7.1%, adds 4,600 jobs

Austin Business Journal

The Central Texas unemployment rate fell for the second consecutive month in March, hitting about 7.1 percent from 7.3 percent in February, the Texas Workforce Commission reported today.
The Austin-San Marcos-Round Rock area also added about 4,600 posts from month to month, but the total 760,300 nonagricultural jobs were still down 500 positions year-over-year. The Central Texas unemployment rate was 6.6 percent in March 2009.
Leisure and hospitality added the most positions from February to March, growing by 2,100 jobs, followed by government, which grew by 1,400. Mining, Logging and construction and professional and business services were the only industries that took major hits from February to March, both shedding 600 positions.
About half of the region's industries were down year-over-year, though leisure and hospitality increased 6,000 positions. Government also experienced a bulk of the increase from March 2009 to last month, adding about 2,800 jobs, though education and health services sectors also added 2,700 positions. Business and professional services lost the most positions year-over-year, dropping about 3,800 jobs.
The state unemployment rate was stable at about 8.2 percent, still far below the national 9.7 percent rate.

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