Houston and Texas jobs market remains tight despite layoffs

Houston Chronicle:
The Houston region closed 2019 by adding 6,700 jobs in December as the unemployment rate held steady at 3.6 percent.

For the year, local employment grew by 3 percent, adding 90,000 jobs compared with 2018, according to data released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission.

Statewide unemployment ticked up slightly to 3.5 percent from a historic low of 3.4 percent as the labor market remained tight.

Texas employers added 29,800 jobs in December, slightly less than in November, when the state added 33,000 jobs. During 2019, Texas employers added 342,800 jobs, a 3 percent increase compared with 2018.
...
Most of the layoffs were in the oil field service companies and were in the Permian Basin where there was a pullback in drilling because of low prices for oil and gas.  There is a transformation at work in the fracking side of the business too where electric fracking is replacing diesel-driven injection wells.

With the Chinese trade agreement just coming online and the completion of pipeline infrastructure, it is likely that the export market for oil will increase as countries look for alternatives to the Middle East and its troubles.

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