Houston Government Jobs See Second-Largest Yearly Increase

As the area's unemployment rate increased and more employers reduced payrolls, Houston government jobs saw the second-largest yearly increase in employment, second only to the education and health services industry.

During January, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area's unemployment rate increased from 8.3 percent to 8.8 percent, following an increase from 8.2 percent during December 2009. Despite the latest increase, the area's rate is still lower than the national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent.

The Houston area had a total non-farm employment of 2,484,200 workers during January, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 2,529,500 workers during December and a 3.3 percent decrease from last year.

No industries managed to see a monthly increase in employment during January. Two industries, however, did manage to add jobs on a yearly basis. The education and health services industry saw the biggest yearly gain, followed by the government industry.

The education and health services industry employed 300,600 workers during January, down from 303,200 workers during December, but a 4.6 percent increase from January 2009. The government industry employed 373,600 workers during January, down from 376,700 workers during December, but a 2 percent increase from last year.

On the opposite end of the scale, the construction industry took the biggest hit when compared to last year. The industry employed 168,400 workers during January, down from 172,300 workers during December and a 14.2 percent decrease from January 2009.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include:

• mining and logging by 4.1 percent
• manufacturing by 9.4 percent
• trade, transportation and utilities by 3.3 percent
• information by 5.4 percent
• financial activities by 2.5 percent
• professional and business services by 7.2 percent
• leisure and hospitality by .2 percent
• other services by 1.2 percent