Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Houston fell 0.3 percentage points in December 2011 to 7.8%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.0 percentage points lower than the Texas rate. The unemployment rate in Houston peaked in December 2010 at 8.6% and is now 0.8 percentage points lower. You can also compare Houston unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate	December 2011	Month/Month	Year/Year
National	8.5%	-0.2	-0.9
Texas	7.8%	-0.3	-0.5
Houston	7.8%	-0.3	-0.8

Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.¹ All comparisons are made with December 2011 data as January metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: Houston, Texas, National

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

Houston, Texas Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in Houston peaked in September 2011 at 253,774. There are now 20,416 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. Houston employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in Houston, Texas) is also available.

Unemployed Persons	December 2011	Month/Month	Year/Year
Houston	233,358	-8,858	-16,969

Number of Unemployed Persons

Houston, Texas Unemployment History

Date	National Unemployment Rate	Texas Unemployment Rate	Houston Unemployment Rate	Houston Unemployed
January 2012	8.3%	—	—	—
December 2011	8.5%	7.8%	7.8%	233,358
November 2011	8.7%	8.1%	8.1%	242,216
October 2011	8.9%	8.4%	8.5%	251,951
September 2011	9.0%	8.5%	8.6%	253,774
August 2011	9.1%	8.5%	8.5%	251,396
July 2011	9.1%	8.4%	8.5%	250,046
June 2011	9.1%	8.2%	8.4%	246,292
May 2011	9.0%	8.0%	8.3%	242,437
April 2011	9.0%	8.0%	8.3%	242,469
March 2011	8.9%	8.1%	8.4%	245,237
February 2011	9.0%	8.2%	8.5%	247,228
January 2011	9.1%	8.3%	8.6%	250,350