Houston Medical Jobs, Education Jobs See Biggest Yearly Increase

As the city's unemployment rate declined and more jobs were added on a monthly basis, Houston medical jobs and education jobs saw the biggest yearly increase in employment last month.

During November, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area's unemployment rate decreased from 8.5 percent to 8.2 percent. That places the area's current rate lower than the national unemployment rate of 10 percent.

The Houston area had a total non-farm employment of 2,534,900 workers during November, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 2,525,600 workers during October, but a 3.4 percent decrease from last year.

Six industries saw a monthly increase in employment, including: mining and logging by 300 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities by 10,100 jobs; education and health services by 500 jobs; leisure and hospitality by 700 jobs; other services by 100 jobs; and government by 1,600 jobs.

The education and health services industry saw the biggest increase in employment when compared to last year. The industry employed 295,900 workers during November, up from 295,400 workers during October and a 2.4 percent increase from last year.

Employment in the leisure and hospitality and government industries also increased over the year. The leisure and hospitality industry employed 230,500 workers during November, up from 229,800 workers during October and a 1.1 percent increase from last year. The government industry employed 375,300 workers during November, up from 373,700 workers during October and a 1.7 percent increase from last year.

Once again, the construction industry took the biggest hit when compared to last year. That industry employed 178,500 workers during November, down from 181,200 workers during October and a 12.6 percent decrease from last year.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include:

• mining and logging by 2.3 percent
• manufacturing by 7.9 percent
• trade, transportation and utilities by 6.3 percent
• information by 5.2 percent
• financial activities by 1.3 percent
• professional and business services by 4.5 percent
• other services by 2.8 percent