Jobs in Dallas Continue to Decline

While other cities throughout Texas have done relatively well despite the state of the economy, more jobs in Dallas were lost last month as the area's unemployment rate increased.

The Texas Workforce Commission recently reported that the Dallas-Plano-Irving area lost 3,700 jobs from July to September. As a whole, the area has lost 54,100 jobs since September of last year.

The Dallas area also saw its unemployment rate increase from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent during September. However, that number is still smaller than the current national unemployment rate of 9.8 percent.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the area's unemployment rate reached 7.1 percent in January, 7 percent in February, 7.1 percent in March, 6.6 percent in April, 7.1 percent in May, 8.1 percent in June, 8.3 percent in July, 8.2 percent in August and 8.3 percent in September.

Only two industries saw an increase in employment on a month-to-month basis. The education and health services industry added 1,500 jobs during the month and has added 20,300 jobs since September 2008, making for an annual growth rate of 8.8 percent.

The government industry added 5,900 jobs from August to September and 4,600 of those jobs were in local government. However, the industry as a whole has lost 1,200 jobs, or .5 percent, from last year

The professional and business services industry saw the biggest decrease in jobs from August to September, losing 4,900 positions. The majority of job losses in that industry were in administrative and support services, which lost 3,900 positions.

Other industries that saw a monthly decrease in employment include: mining, logging and construction by 800 jobs; manufacturing by 600 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities by 1,200 jobs; financial activities by 1,800 jobs; leisure and hospitality by 1,500 jobs; and other services by 300 jobs.

When compared to last year, every industry expect education and health services lost jobs, including:

• mining, logging and construction by 9,700 jobs or 7.6 percent
• manufacturing by 6,400 jobs or 3.4 percent
• trade, transportation and utilities by 20,000 jobs or 4.8 percent
• information by 3,000 jobs or 4.3 percent
• financial activities by 5,300 jobs or 2.8 percent
• professional and business services by 23,000 jobs or 6.5 percent
• leisure and hospitality by 2,400 jobs or 1.2 percent
• other services by 3,400 jobs or 4.7 percent