Austin's unemployment rate for November was down to a pandemic low of 3.2%, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
It's not clear where the new omicron variant of COVID-19 could cause unemployment to increase, the story said.
"Right now, I would say the biggest problem (for companies) is hiring enough people — not the prospect of omicron slowing their business," Jason Schenker, president of Austin-based Prestige Economics, told the newspaper. "The job market in Austin is very, very tight right now."
Businesses added 11,800 non-farm jobs in November in the Austin area, raising the number of employed people to almost 1.19 million, a record high for the fourth month in a row, the story said.
The unemployment rate has been steadily dropping since June, after remaining in a range of 5% to 6%, according to the state, the American-Statesman said.
It still has not yet reached the pre-pandemic low of 2.5% which was recorded in November 2019, the story said.
Omicron could derail the job growth, although Austin's diverse workforce makes that less likely, Matt Patton, an
economist with Angelou Economics in Austin, told the newspaper.
"The nature of Austin’s economy is that so many of us are able to work from home and perform duties remotely," Patton said. "What we have seen is that the Austin economy is very resilient."