Austin is one of the best-performing major metro areas in the country when it comes to job growth.
According to a release by the Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin had 4.1% more jobs in November than it did pre-pandemic, trailing only the Salt Lake City area.
Austin's growth job held across all sectors except for government employment.
Job growth in Austin has been outpacing Houston's since the pandemic. Compared to February 2020, Austin's job count is 47,000 higher meaning it has recovered all jobs lost to COVID-19, and then some. Houston's total is down 2% over that same period, but that city still ranks 27th in the United States.
From November 2020 to November 2021, Houston showed job growth of 4.8%, placing it 19th compared to other metro area growth rates in the United States. By comparison, Austin grew 7.8%, adding 85,800 jobs.
From October to November 2021, Houston matched the statewide average job increase numbers of 0.6% while Austin nearly doubled that with a 1% increase in added jobs.
Houston's not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 5.1% in November 2021. Austin came in at 3.2% over the same period, nearly two full percentage points lower than Houston. Seasonally adjusted, the former clocks in at 5.7% and the latter at 3.5%.
The job growth rates since February 2020 for other Texas metro areas are as follows: Dallas-Plano-Irving — 4.1%, fourth-place ranking among the 50 biggest metro areas. Fort Worth-Arlington — 2.2%, fifth-place ranking among the 50 biggest metro areas. San Antonio — 1.3%, ninth-place ranking among the 50 biggest metro areas.
The Greater Houston Partnership expects 75,500 jobs to be created in 2022.
Houston is still ranked highly on Indeed as one of the best cities for recent graduates seeking employment, according to Culturemap Houston.
From November 2020 to November 2021, among top performing U.S. metro areas within Texas, Austin was second (7.8%), Fort Worth (5.0%) and San Antonio (4.7%) ranked 17th and 20th in job growth, respectively.
Nationally, Las Vegas, Nevada ranked first in job growth at 8.5% during the same time period.