Texas led the nation in employment growth in June, adding 40,200 jobs to the state's economy, its biggest gain in a single month since January.

The state's unemployment rate inched downward to 4.6 percent, slightly higher than the nation's jobless rate, which is at 4.4 percent. Texas was one of 10 states where the unemployment rate fell.

Economists say the Lone Star State's jobless rate is at a healthy level, given the huge volume of new residents.

"Texas is not only doing well," said Kurt Rankin, PNC Bank's Texas economist. "Texas continues to do better."

Service sectors added some 30,000 jobs, and the continued resurgence in the oil economy helped goods-producing sectors add close to 10,000 jobs, according to data released Friday.

The news of employment growth comes as Texas lawmakers started debating proposed legislation that businesses and critics say discriminates against transgender people.

The state's major employers have tried to convince Austin to drop efforts to pass the so-called bathroom bill, without much success so far. Some say the fight may be symbolic of business' waning sway in the Texas capitol.

Legislation that’s perceived as discriminatory, business leaders have said, could threaten the state’s economic momentum because young workers — so desperately needed by companies looking to hire — are turned off by a less-than-inclusive environment.

But the legislative fights, observers say, haven’t yet put a damper on the economic force of the state’s fast-growing metro areas, which Rankin said power Texas’ overall economy.

Rankin said metro areas, including Dallas, Austin and Houston, have taken steps to build their respective labor forces.

“The three main geographies in the state are all attacking the problem in a positive way,” he said. “Texas has local spending helping to keep labor force growth on the upswing.”

In D-FW, for instance, the Dallas Regional Chamber has launched a 'Say Yes to Dallas' campaign, calling on millennials to move to North Texas. The campaign's website highlights Dallas' thriving LGBT community.

One of Dallas' highest profile business moguls, Mark Cuban, has thrown his name behind the effort. Since the bathroom bill hasn't become a law yet, the state's politicians are "merely a sideshow," for now, Cuban told The Dallas Morning News. If it does become a law, he wrote at the time, "that's a different story."

Dallas-Fort Worth's not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased from 3.8 percent in May to 4 percent in June, but it was slightly lower than the June number (4.1 percent) a year ago.

Texas fell to No. 4 for the first time in CNBC's 'Top States for Business' rankings, in part because it was among the "least inclusive states in the nation."

But Texas still ranked high in some business climate rankings, including in the annual list posted by Business Facilities, a trade publication, where the Lone Star State grabbed the top spot.

Still, hiring and churn are maintaining a breakneck pace, said Mark Malone, senior regional president in Dallas for the recruiting firm Robert Half.

Although it’s still very much a candidates’ job market, Malone said the influx of people moving to the state in pursuit of high-paying corporate work means that concerns about the state’s inclusivity toward LGBT people haven’t been on his radar.

“We don’t really do a lot of recruiting outside of Texas — we get people coming to us,” he said. “So many people are already moving here.”

Malone said the tight labor market could also trace back to workers' confidence in their prospects for better deals.

In May, quit rates were at their highest since 2001, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Meanwhile, the goods-producing sector continued a promising turnaround — which experts say quells some lingering worries about how much oil-price instability will affect Texas’ broader economy.

In June, mining and logging, which includes the energy industry, added 4,400 jobs.

Education and health services grew by the biggest number of jobs in June, adding 13,100, as service jobs chugged along at a steady pace. That comes after a slowdown in May.

Rankin, the PNC Bank economist, said that uncertainty about health care policies on the national level hasn’t trickled down.

“It’s pretty much continued to grow over the last two years,” he said.

And as for trade — another anticipated obstacle to growth for the Texas’ economy in 2017 — Rankin said that sweeping policy changes could make a dent, but they’re unlikely to spur economic catastrophe, even in a state like Texas, which leads the nation in trade.

“Everything that takes money out of consumers’ wallets hurts growth, but doesn’t necessarily cause it to stall out,” he said.

Check our Texas Jobs Report for more soon.