Texas’ economy shed 16,000 jobs in June, Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed on Wednesday, suggesting the state’s buoyant labor market could be losing some steam.
Of the lost jobs, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area accounted for about 10,000, BLS figures revealed. Nonfarm payrolls dropped from 4,312,800 in May to 4,302,500 in June.
This is consistent with analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The bank’s July 18 employment forecast pegged job growth through the first half of the year at 1.8% and predicted 1.7% growth in all of 2025 ― a downward revision from last month’s forecast of 2% growth through the year.
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Business Briefing
“June declines were largely broad based across sectors, led by cuts in the oil and gas and professional business services sectors,” Jesus Cañas, Dallas Fed senior business economist, wrote in the most recent forecast.
Given those industries’ strong presence in the region, it could explain the region’s heavier losses relative to Texas’ other large metros. The Austin area lost about 1,000 jobs, while the Houston and San Antonio metros were relatively consistent.
“The only sectors that added jobs last month were information services, education and health, and government,” Cañas wrote.
D-FW employment was up 1% relative to June 2024, slightly underperforming growth in the civilian labor force. However, unemployment was at 3.8%, down 0.5% from the previous year and up 0.1% from May.
These trends are largely reflective of the broader economy, which has remained strong in certain areas and lagged in others. Headwinds from global tariffs has generated more uncertainty, amid the federal government’s “will-they-won’t-they” implementation policy.
However, national growth has surprised to the upside. After a contraction in the first quarter of 2025, U.S. gross domestic product rebounded to 3% growth in the second quarter.
Yet some of that was attributed to a sharp drop in imports, after a pendulum swing from first-quarter attempts to front-load tariffs. It masked slowing consumer spending and business investment.