McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The McAllen area ranks in the top 10 metropolitan statistical areas in the nation for nonfarm job growth, according to a federal report Tuesday.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Hidalgo County 5.5% growth in nonfarm jobs from November 2021 to November 2022 qualified as the eighth-best in the nation among 95 metro areas that showed increases.
The increase represented an additional 15,600 jobs year-over-year in Hidalgo County.
Growth was not assured, as 294 metropolitan areas were “essentially unchanged” for that period, the BLS stated.
The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission MSA was one of three Texas MSA’s in the top 10. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington’s MSA ranked fourth, and the Houston-area MSA ranked sixth best in the nation for nonfarm job increases.
The Brownsville-Harlingen MSA saw a positive change of 3.1%, but did not make the top 10.
Measures of nonfarm include most forms of employment, except farming jobs and other job classifications that include some government workers, private household jobs, proprietors and nonprofit employees. Nonfarm jobs will typically include workers related to goods, construction and manufacturing that exclude proprietors.
“This measure accounts for approximately 80 percent of the workers who contribute to Gross Domestic Product (GPD),” the U.S. Federal Reserve states.
The unemployment rate for the McAllen area was 6.4% in November 2022.
The rankings came from information in the Current Employment Statistics (State and Metro Area) program and the data were not seasonally adjusted, according to the BLS.
