2020 Texas Job Growth

A new ranking by The Wall Street Journal crowns Austin the hottest job market among the country’s 53 largest metro areas. The metro area with the highest average ranking among the five categories was named the hottest labor market. Austin ranked second for job growth (3.5 percent) and labor-force growth (3 percent); third for labor-force participation (70.6 percent); sixth for unemployment rate (3 percent); and 12th for wage growth (4 percent), earning it the top spot. The Dallas metro area continues to lead the state with 3.8% employment growth.

Startups also are driving job growth. A study released in 2018 by the Chamber of Commerce noted startups account for a larger share of businesses in Austin than in nearly all other major U.S. metros. Of the 38,405 businesses in Austin in 2016 with paid employees, almost 40 percent had been in business less than six years, according to the study.

Technology and upstarts are creating disruptions in the financial sector, resulting in cutbacks in some areas and slow job growth nationwide. However, in Dallas finance jobs are booming at a rate of three times faster than other cities in the United States.

Charles Schwab, one of the nation’s leading discount brokers, recently announced plans to move its corporate headquarters from San Francisco to Dallas by mid-2020.

Last year, Capital One laid off 950 workers in Plano by shutting down one of their call centers. Despite those cuts, the region still added financial sector jobs last year, and the momentum picked again in late 2019. In Plano’s Legacy West, JPMorgan is already expanding with a 12-story tower, the tallest of four buildings on a nearly 50-acre campus. The Plano campus workforce will expand to 6,500 from 4,500. Overall, Texas is home to more than 24,000 JPMorgan employees, which is its second-largest presence in the country.