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The unemployment rates for metro Houston, Texas, and the nation ticked up in February, according to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). Houston’s unemployment rate rose from 4.4 to 4.6 percent, Texas from 4.1 to 4.4 percent, and the U.S. rate from 4.1 to 4.2 percent.

There were 168,668 Houstonians unemployed and looking for work in February, up from 159,125 in January. TWC estimates Houston’s labor force at 3,686,802, up roughly 79,000 workers from a year ago.

Among cities in the metro area for which TWC publishes unemployment rates, Bryan had the lowest rate in February and Baytown the highest.

Initial claims filed for unemployment benefits peaked in mid-June ’20, trended down through October ’21, and have remained flat since.

Continued claims filed by workers unemployed for a week or more inched up early in ’23, slipped going into the fall, and ticked up again in November and December. The 30,576 claims filed this February reflect a drop of roughly 2,000 claims from this January but an increase over roughly 4,500 over February last year.

Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research

Patrick Jankowski, CERP
Chief Economist 
Senior Vice President, Research
pjankowski@houston.org

Leta Wauson
Research Director
lwauson@houston.org