Austin Employment Picture

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released five-year private sector employment statistics this morning (Texas cities hold top four job-growth spots), and I was  pleased to see that the Austin metro area ranked third — gaining 56,100 private sector jobs from June 2005 to June 2010.  Texas cities held all of the Top 4 places in this  new report.  The same report also showed that Austin ranked 1st nationally on one-year employment growth.

There is a lot to appreciate about this great city — location, climate, culture, etc., etc., etc.   I have been writing for a long time about the aspects that are attracting  population and jobs to Austin.  Here is a sample from 2010:

January 21:      It’s still about jobs …

January 23:      Austin employment picture remains positive

January 24:      New Central Texas jobs report

March 6:            They’re doing it again!

March 10:         Employment — this is more than just semantics!

June 26:            More validation for Austin

Today’s article is more important recognition, but Austin’s history as an economic attraction goes much farther back than five years:

Growth paused after 9/11/01, the dot-com bust, and the Enron/Worldcom scandals, and unemployment surged.  The fifteen-year trend, though, is unmistakable, and  daily news reports in recent weeks and months reinforce the fact that Austin’s attraction continues.

Of course, these trends usually have an end, but so far Austin continues to succeed, and it is very encouraging to see long-term data like that released today by the BLS.