Labor Market Intelligence

Coastal Bend Employment Down Year-Over-Year

May 2024 LMI

**Released June 24, 2024. Reflects data up to May 2024. **

Year-Over-Year Shifts

In today’s release by the Texas Workforce Commission for May 2024, Coastal Bend’s unemployment rate decreased year-over-year by -0.1 percentage point from 4.3% in May 2023 to 4.2% in May 2024. Within the eleven counties of the Coastal Bend region, nine counties witnessed a reduction in their unemployment rates during the same period.

Month-Over-Month Shifts

The unemployment rate for the Coastal Bend region increased 0.2 percentage points from 4.0% in April 2024 to 4.2%. All eleven counties in the Coastal Bend region experienced a slight increase in their unemployment rates. As of May 2024, the 4.2% unemployment rate represented 11,194 residents seeking employment.

Comparison with State and National Trends

In Texas, the not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased 0.3 percentage points from 3.5% in April 2024 to 3.8% in May 2024. Texas’ year-over-year rate decreased -0.1 percentage point from 3.9% in May 2023 to 3.8%. Similarly, the national unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points from 3.5% in April 2024 to 3.7% in May 2024 and saw an increase of 0.3 percentage points year-over-year.

Texas Labor Market Growth

For the 10th consecutive month, the state of Texas has set a record-high level for jobs, while the number of employed Texans and the state’s civilian labor force have each reached new highs for the last five months. Texas’ seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment increased to 14,195,600 after 41,800 jobs were added over the month in May, reflecting monthly growth in 47 of the last 49 months and annual growth for 38 consecutive months.

Texas’ annual nonfarm employment expanded by 2.3% which outpaced the nation by half a point, as the state added 316,700 jobs since May 2023.

Texas’ seasonally adjusted civilian labor force grew by 35,900 people in May to reach a new high of 15,262,600. This included the addition of 32,500 employed Texans over the month. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate registered at 4.0%, which was equal to the national unemployment rate.

Sectors Driving Growth

Both the Coastal Bend region and the Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) displayed growth in diverse industries, weekly wages, and year-over-year employment statistics. The Construction industry experienced a 20.3% increase region wide, followed by the Manufacturing industry which increased to 3.9% compared to May 2023.

For the Corpus Christi MSA, the Mining, Logging and Construction industry lead the growth rate with a 7.6% increase in 2023, followed by the Manufacturing industry with a 3.4% year-over-year.

Resources

Job seekers in this region have access to *13,825 job openings spanning various sectors. To explore these job opportunities, individuals can register in WorkinTexas.com or visit our website at wfscb.org

*Advertised jobs are spidered daily in real-time. Real-time advertised jobs are collected from employer corporate sites, hospitals, non-profits, local and federal government agencies, schools and universities, recruiter sites, newspapers, volunteer sites, and other public, private, and state job boards.

Labor Market Information Definitions

Not Seasonally Adjusted (Actual) – Data has not been subjected to the seasonal adjustment process. In other words, the effects of regular or seasonal patterns have not been removed from these series. Not seasonally adjusted data is available for smaller geographies, where seasonally adjusted is only available down to the state level. Use this data to view raw numbers, and for geographies smaller than state level.

Seasonally Adjusted – Total employment and unemployment vary throughout the year. For example, higher unemployment in January and February isn’t uncommon because of work in agriculture, construction and other seasonal industries slowing down. Also, both employment and unemployment rise every June, when students enter the labor force in search of summer jobs. Seasonally adjusted numbers also take into account seasonal hiring/layoff patterns that go along with winter and summer holidays. Use this data for month-to-month comparisons for Texas and the United States.

Labor Force – Residents who are at least 16 years old, not serving in the military or institutionalized, and employed or seeking employment.

Download Targeted Occupations List 2022-2023 (PDF)

The targeted occupations list is developed by Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend for the most effective use of local workforce development resources. Sources of information for the target list are local area employers, economic development entities, chambers of commerce, community partners, Texas Workforce Commission labor market information regarding the Coastal Bend Counties, and knowledge gained from continuous contact with the above sources.

Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend’s Strategic Business Plan 2021-2025 has been updated to comply with Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) regulations. The final draft has been approved by the Texas Workforce Commission.

Written comments were submitted electronically to amy.villarreal@workforcesolutionscb.org, delivered via mail or in-person to the Board Administrative offices to Amy Kiddy Villarreal, Chief Operating Officer at 400 Mann St. Suite 800, Corpus Christi TX 78401

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Local Labor Market Information

The Texas Workforce Commission collects information from Unemployment Insurance claims coupled with data from the Current Employment Statistics Program and data from other sources to produce estimates of total employment, unemployment, and unemployment rates for the 27 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and all 254 counties in the state.

Each month, the Local Area Labor Market Information (LMI) is distributed to the Coastal Bend community. These rates are provided to a wide variety of users both inside and outside government and are used as a basic allocator for federal funding in many programs.

Check out the latest Local Labor Market Information (LMI) for the Coastal Bend.

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