Revised data from Workforce Solutions indicates that job growth in the Houston area for 2023 surpassed early estimates. Originally projected at around 70,000, the revised report reveals over 100,000 new jobs added, marking the third consecutive year Houston has exceeded the 100,000 mark since the start of the pandemic, although it’s a decrease from the 145,700 jobs added in 2022.
Construction and hospitality, two industries previously identified as facing challenges in job growth, defied expectations and played a significant role in driving Houston’s overall job gains last year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics payroll estimates were revised to reflect this positive trend.
The updated data was released on the fourth anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the Houston area. The Greater Houston Partnership reported that the region lost more than 360,000 jobs in the initial two months, surpassing the job losses experienced during the oil crisis in the 1980s and the financial crisis in 2008.
Both the GHP’s March economic outlook report and the Workforce Solutions report emphasized the significant setbacks faced by the hospitality sector and its subsequent recovery in the years that followed.
According to the GHP, Houston-area hotels experienced a loss of 11,500 jobs, which accounted for 40.4% of the sector’s employment, between March and April 2020. Similarly, restaurants and bars saw a loss of 99,500 jobs during the same period, representing 36.8% of the sector’s employment. Although the restaurant industry managed to recover all lost jobs by May 2022, the hotel industry remains 2,200 jobs below pre-pandemic levels, despite exceeding 2019 occupancy rates.
Construction surpasses expectations but remains below pre-pandemic levels. Initially projected to face a loss of 5,900 jobs by the end of 2023, the sector saw a positive swing of 11,600 jobs, resulting in a net gain of 5,700 jobs for the Houston area.
“There is a bit more to the story, however,” said Parker Harvey, manager of Regional Economic Analysis at the Workforce Development Agency, in a news release. “The Specialty Trade Contractors sub-sector, for example, neither lost nor added jobs in 2023 when the original estimates indicated a year-over-year loss of 7,500.”
Parker Harvey
Residential and nonresidential building construction were the primary drivers of growth, as indicated by Workforce Solutions’ updated report. The Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) observed that single-family construction surged due to lower interest rates during the pandemic and the demand for remote work, although this trend has slowed with rising interest rates in 2023.
Although the construction industry initially lost 10.1% of its workforce during the first two months of the pandemic, both Workforce Solutions and GHP reported that the sector remains below pre-pandemic levels by thousands of jobs. Additionally, sectors like oil and gas, initially underestimated, experienced job gains through revised benchmarks, with the industry expanding from a modest gain of 900 jobs to a stronger increase of 2,200 jobs in 2023. Despite this, the GHP highlighted that the oil and gas sector remain over 8,000 jobs below pre-pandemic levels, especially with global supply surpassing demand.
SOURCCE: Workforce Solutions
