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Metro Houston added 16,000 jobs in December ’22, according to data released today by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). That ties with December ’12 for the fourth-best December for job growth in the past 20 years.
The region created 179,000 jobs in ’22, according to TWC. That’s the best year on record for job growth since employment records have been kept going back to the early ‘80s. The previous record was in ’21 when Houston created 159,700 jobs.
With the December jobs report, payroll employment topped 3,356,000. Total employment now stands at a record high for the region.
These numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, however. They are preliminary estimates based on surveys of employers that TWC conducts throughout the year. As with any survey, the results are subject to sampling, non-response, structural, interpretation, and various other errors. TWC is currently adjusting the estimates, comparing its survey data with unemployment insurance tax records that all employers must file. In March, TWC will issue its annual benchmark revisions to the data, with major revisions going back to ’21 and minor adjustments going back even further.
The revisions for ’21 and ’22 could be significant. Only seven times in the past 20 years had TWC adjusted its annual employment estimates by 10,000 or fewer jobs.
When TWC issues its benchmark revisions for ’22, the Partnership expects employment gains to be revised downward, perhaps by as much as 50,000 jobs. Even with a substantial revision to the data, the year will have been one of the better on record for job creation.
Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research
Patrick Jankowski, CERP
Chief Economist
Senior Vice President, Research
pjankowski@houston.org
Clara Richardson
Research Associate
crichardson@houston.org
Metro Houston added 16,000 jobs in December ’22
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