Texas adds 40,500 jobs in February

A Halliburton wellhead is visible at a fracking site Monday, June 26, 2017, in Midland. Massive pumps borne on a dozen trucks shook the earth on the outskirts of Midland, blasting a cocktail of water and sand deep underground to break apart dense rock and release a wellspring of oil and gas. Hydraulic fracturing operations like Halliburton's here in West Texas have set off the second U.S. oil boom in a decade, this time delivering heavier payloads in more prolific regions, and countering efforts by OPEC to curb the world's oil glut and weighing on prices. It?s an operation at the heart of a resurgent U.S. oil industry that?s bringing back jobs in regions that had waned in the downturn. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle ) less A Halliburton wellhead is visible at a fracking site Monday, June 26, 2017, in Midland. Massive pumps borne on a dozen trucks shook the earth on the outskirts of Midland, blasting a cocktail of water and ... more Photo: Steve Gonzales, Staff Photo: Steve Gonzales, Staff Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Texas adds 40,500 jobs in February 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Texas employers expanded payrolls by 40,500 seasonally adjusted jobs in February, making it the 20th month of straight employment growth across the state, the Texas Workforce Commission said on Friday.

The state's jobless rate came in at 4 percent, the same as it was in January. Over the past year, Texas gained 285,000 jobs, up 2.3 percent over the previous 12-month period.

"We are encouraged to see the Texas economy continue to expand at a solid pace," TWC Chairman Andres Alcantar said in a statement.

In Houston, employers added 26,400 jobs in February, up almost 1 percent and slightly more than the region added the same month last year, according to data compiled by Workforce Solutions in Houston.

Houston's professional and business services sector gained the most jobs, with an increase of 7,800. Government gained 5,700 additional jobs, followed by education and health services (4,900), construction (3,700), leisure and hospitality (2,600) and manufacturing (1,300).

Houston's mining and logging sector, which encompasses and is mostly made up of the state's oil and gas industry, only added 200 jobs.

Meanwhile, the statewide mining and logging sector filled 6,500 jobs in February.

After shedding tens of thousands of jobs during a brutal energy downturn in 2015 and 2016, the Texas oil industry has gained 28,000 jobs over the past year, up 13 percent from a year ago.

Other Texas-wide sectors that turned in strong job numbers in February: professional and business services, with an additional 13,000 jobs; retail, with 6,800; construction, with 5,300; and education and health services, with 4,100 new jobs.