Businesses Add 15,000 Net Jobs in Texas During September

Businesses in Texas added more than 15,000 net jobs during the month of September, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday.

The addition of 15,400 jobs brings the total gain of nonfarm jobs since Sept., 2010, to 248,500.  There are now 10,610,100 nonfarm jobs in Texas, which has experienced positive annual job growth for the past 17 months.

Texas' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held at 8.5 percent in September, unchanged from August, and below the national unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, the TWC said.

"I am encouraged to see that we added 26,500 private sector jobs during that time period [September]. This continues a long-term trend in Texas of healthy private sector job growth with 282,200 such jobs added over the last year," said TWC chairman Tom Pauken.

Eight of the 11 major industries gained jobs in Texas last month, and all but two of those groups showed gains over the year. Here is more on job growth last month from the TWC:

Professional and Business Services added 18,400 jobs in September, growing by 68,200 positions over the year, for an annual job growth rate of 5.3 percent. Mining and Logging added 3,400 jobs in September, and had the highest annual growth rate of all the major industries in Texas at 18.4 percent. Construction added 7,200 jobs in September, and had the second highest annual growth rate at 6.3 percent. Manufacturing shed 3,000 positions in September, but still added 18,500 positions since September 2010, maintaining an annual growth rate of 2.3 percent.