The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released preliminary April employment data for U.S. metro areas today. Total non-farm employment in Austin-Round Rock (Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson counties) increased from 776,500 jobs in March to 781,400 jobs in April. This marks the third consecutive month of net job growth in the region (not seasonally adjusted).
Notably, employment in goods producing industries in Austin-Round Rock was down by only 500 jobs in April, which is encouraging given the pace of recent losses. Other good news: consumer spending may be stabilizing (retail, hotel, and restaurant jobs are all up from this time last year) and professional and business service sector employment is back to its all-time high last seen in October 2008.
Some bad news: computer, semiconductor, and other electronic component manufacturing continues to slide. Semiconductor manufacturing employment in April was 15,700 jobs, which virtually erases all the gains since April 2006.
Brian Kelsey
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