The number of jobs in Greater Houston increased by less than half a percent in the past year.

The Houston area added 13,400 jobs in the 12 months leading up to this past October – that's a 0.4 percent increase.

Compare that to the rest of the country, which posted a 1.6 percent increase.

Cheryl Abbot, regional economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Dallas, said this marks the 12th straight month that Houston's year-over-year job growth is below 1 percent.

"And that's quite a bit different from the position Houston was in a couple of years ago when they frequently led in terms of job growth rate among the 12 largest areas," Abbot said.

Back then, Houston led in job growth in every super-sector.

Of course, this change is connected to the downturn in the oil and gas industry, which is directly responsible for about 8,400 lost jobs in the past year.

But there is a silver lining.

"The percentage decline in this October was 8.9 percent and that's the slowest rate of job loss since June of 2015," Abbot said.

Houston's education, health, hospitality and trade industries all experienced continued job growth and are outpacing the rest of the nation – although not at the rate they used to.

Subscribe to Today in Houston Fill out the form below to subscribe our new daily editorial newsletter from the HPM Newsroom. Email* First Name Last Name * required