Fort Worth Jobs Grow Despite Unemployment Jump

Despite a slight spike in unemployment, plenty of Fort Worth jobs (Click here) were added last November.

During November, the Fort Worth area's unemployment rate jumped from 7.9 percent to 8.2 percent, which was still lower than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.8 percent.

The Fort Worth-Arlington area employed a total of 857,400 workers during November, which is up from 852,800 workers during October and a 1 percent increase from the previous year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The majority of industries added jobs over the month. The trade, transportation, and utilities industry saw the biggest gain, increasing by 3,300 jobs during November.

Five other industries experienced a monthly increase in employment, including: government by 1,100 jobs; professional and business services by 600 jobs; education and health services by 400 jobs; and information and other services by 100 jobs each.

Six industries also added workers between November 2009 and November 2010. The government industry saw the biggest growth, increasing by 3.6 percent to 129,000 jobs. That was followed by the education and health services industry, which increased by 2.8 percent to 109,000 workers.

The professional and business services industry grew by 2.4 percent to 93,300 jobs; the leisure and hospitality industry increased by 2.1 percent to 90,600 workers; the other services industry grew by 1.9 percent to 32,100 jobs; and the manufacturing industry increased by 1 percent to 87,300 workers.

Four industries lost workers during November, including: leisure and hospitality by 500 jobs; mining, logging, and construction and financial activities by 200 jobs each; and manufacturing by 100 jobs.

There were also four industries that experienced employment declines on a yearly basis. The information industry took the biggest hit, dropping by 5.9 percent to 14,300 workers.

The financial activities industry declined by 2 percent to 48,600 jobs; while the mining, logging, and construction industry decreased by 1.1 percent to 53,600 workers; and the trade, transportation, and utilities industry dropped by .8 percent to 199,600 jobs.