Texas’ job growth slows with only 8,800 jobs added in May
Bernard Weinstein, an economist and associate director of SMU's Maguire Energy Institute, talks to The Dallas Morning News about job growth and the economic outlook for Texas.
By COLLIN EATON
Staff Writer
Texas’ employment outlook dimmed in May as payrolls rose by only 8,800 jobs, a weak monthly gain after seven months of much stronger job market growth.
The payroll numbers amount to a sharp slowdown from April, when Texas added 30,300 jobs. It’s also the state’s worst month since September 2010, when Texas lost 200 jobs.
However, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday that the state unemployment rate stayed flat at 8 percent in May after months of inching lower. . .
But one bad month does not constitute a trend, and payroll numbers show that Texas created about one in every six jobs in the U.S. in May, said Bernard Weinstein, an economist at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.
“It’s a pretty mixed picture out there,” Weinstein said. “But I don’t think we’re looking at a double-dip recession.”
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