Of the major metropolitan areas across the United States of America with a potential labor force above 750 thousand, only 1 has gained jobs since 2008. That incredible achievement was reached in Austin, Texas. The National Bureau of Labor released the results comparing Apr. 2008 and Apr. 2009, and for the 3rd month in a row, Austin bested all others in job gains. The current unemployment rate for Austin, Texas is 5.8 percent down 3.6% from the national average of 9.4 percent. Only the 38 top metropolitan labor force cities were involved in this survey.

The significant job increases for 2009 have been in the industries related to Restaurants, Retail, and Hospitality. These services are provided direct to the public and even through a recession they are seeing modest growth opportunities. Direct impact on Austin’s job market, goods producing industries and technology based industries are down across the region. The jobs in the direct to consumer industries mentioned above, compensate significantly for those jobs lost.

The lowest unemployment rates in Texas are Austin with 5.8 percent and San Antonio with 5.4 percent. After that the next closest job healthy cities are Huston at 6.3 percent and Dallas-Fort Worth with 6.6 percent. Both are still below the national average, as are many smaller metro area’s who are reported at 8 percent and above unemployment. This proves the value that the Austin Metropolitan area offers to their residents and new home owners.