Houston added 90,000 jobs since last year

The Houston area gained close to 90,000 jobs between January 2011 and January of this year, according to new employment estimates released by the Texas Workforce Commission

In January 2012, Houston had about 2.78 million employees and an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent. During the same month in 2011, the area had about 2.69 million employees and an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent.

Houston job numbers dipped slightly in January 2012 when compared to numbers from the previous month. Unemployment also grew from 7.2 percent in December to 2.6 percent in January, however the statistics were not adjusted for seasonal employment rates.

Texas had the same unemployment rate in January as Houston. Also, both the state and the city have a better unemployment rate when compared to the U.S., which had an overall unemployment rate of 8.8 percent in January.

Industries in Texas that saw the largest employment growth between January 2011 and January 2012 were: mining and logging, which increased by 17.6 percent; leisure and hospitality, which increased by 5.5 percent; and professional and business services, which increased by 5.3 percent.