Even amidst concerns of a recession, high interest rates, and rising prices, the job market in Fort Worth and Arlington continues to expand, according to economists.
In October, the Fort Worth and Arlington region saw the addition of 34,100 jobs, marking a 2.8% rise from the previous year. Meanwhile, statewide employment dipped marginally by 1,300.
Surpassing Laila Assanie’s predictions, a senior business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the area’s growth rate has exceeded expectations. Anticipating a slowdown to under 2.5%, the area’s average, the actual growth rate has hovered around 3.6%, surpassing Houston, San Antonio, and the national average.
Assanie attributes the robust job market to job creation in every sector in Fort Worth and Arlington, stating, “The job market has surprisingly been exceptionally resilient. And it has held its own, even as we’ve seen softness in other parts of the economy.”
While trailing behind Dallas and Austin, the area’s job growth aligns with the state average. Assanie anticipates a deceleration as the market has recuperated from pandemic losses.
Notably, even with the manufacturing sector, a key regional industry, showing signs of slowing in Federal Reserve surveys, it continues to create jobs. Assanie remarked, “That bodes well … of how well the labor market has done overall.”
A recent job fair at Globe Life Field in Arlington, despite inclement weather, drew over a thousand attendees, surpassing last year’s numbers. The event, hosted by Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County, connected job seekers with employers offering 8,777 positions.
However, the abundance of openings doesn’t simplify job hunting.
Demarquis Seeth, a job seeker and Air Force reservist, has been on the hunt for three weeks after leaving a tech sales position in January for military duty. Attending his second job fair of the day in Arlington, Seeth noted the sector-specific nature of job market prospects.
Despite layoffs in large tech firms like Google and Microsoft, data indicates job additions in the tech sector in Fort Worth and Arlington.
Seeth expressed that while there are numerous hiring opportunities, the recruitment process for desired roles can be prolonged, often involving multiple interview stages.
“I think the job market is climbing back up as far as employment,” he said. “It’s still rough out there.”
At a recent job fair, Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County reported that 1,178 interviews were conducted by employers, resulting in 50 job offers.
Regarding job additions in Fort Worth and Arlington, the most significant growth in October was seen in the business and professional services sector, closely followed by transportation, warehousing, and utilities.
The leisure and hospitality industry is also experiencing job growth. Jeremy Trimble, a recruiting company market director, attributes this partly to it being one of the final sectors to regain jobs lost during the pandemic’s onset. He mentioned, “It’s this recovery, along with the completion of several new local hotels (thinking of the upcoming openings of solid properties like Loews Arlington and Crescent Fort Worth), that has spurred the increase in DFW hiring within the industry,” in an email to Fort Worth Report.
Daniel Oney, research director at the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, highlighted Texas’s robust job growth rate, which has doubled the U.S. rate over the past five years. In 2022, the state surpassed its pre-COVID-19 pandemic job addition numbers. However, October marked the first job loss in Texas in 31 months.
The sustained growth, despite recession fears and economic challenges, is partly due to consumers saving significantly in 2020, coupled with stimulus checks, according to Oney. He added that most economists he has spoken with predict a mild recession in 2024.
“The economy just had a little more gas in it than people thought,” Oney said.
