Austin Unemployment Holds Steady – September 2009

The region’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.2% for the month of September .  Although 7.2% unemployment is +4% higher than it was a year ago, it’s less than the national average for September which totalled 9.8% or the October national average which stands at 10.2%.

The biggest job losses over the past year are in manufacturing (-11.5%), wholesale trade (-7%), construction (-6.6%) and information (-4.3%) industries.

Education and health services with a 3.6% year over year growth rate heads the list of Austin job growth with other services (2.5%), financial activites (+2.2%), and government (+1.8%) demonstrating growth as well.  The service industry accounted for 5,200 of the 9,200 jobs created since September of 2008.

The Austin MSA continues to be one of the best performing in the U.S. with a #2 overall ranking for both August and September as tracked by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.