How Covid affected the employment in Dallas-Fort Worth Area?

Total nonfarm employment in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area decreased by 96,100 over the year in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table 1.) Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that the local rate of job loss, 2.5 percent, compared to the 6.0-percent national decline. (See chart 1.) This was the eighth consecutive month of over-the-year declines locally. (The Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of two metropolitan divisions –
separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. Both divisions posted
employment declines over the year. The Dallas-Plano-Irving Metropolitan Division, with 71 percent of the
area’s total nonfarm employment, lost 60,600 jobs since November 2019, a decrease of 2.2 percent. The Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Division, which accounted for the remaining 29 percent of the area’s
workforce, lost 35,500 jobs during the period, a decline of 3.2 percent.

Industry employment
In the greater Dallas metropolitan area, employment declined in 5 of the 10 supersectors. (See chart 2.)
Leisure and hospitality had the largest loss, down 64,000, with the accommodation and food services sector accounting for 51,700 jobs lost. The 16.0-percent rate of job decline in the local leisure and hospitality supersector compared to the 19.8-percent national loss.

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington’s education and health services supersector lost 33,000 jobs from November
2019 to November 2020. The vast majority of those job losses were in the health care and social assistance sector (-29,400). The education and health services supersector had a 7.0-percent rate of job decline in Dallas, compared to a 4.4-percent loss nationwide.

Employment in manufacturing fell by 10,100 in the local area from November a year ago. The Fort WorthArlington metropolitan division was responsible for a decline of 7,700 jobs during the period. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington’s 3.5-percent annual decrease in manufacturing jobs compared to the U.S. loss of 4.8 percent.

Financial activities employment rose by 14,700, with most of the increase in the finance and insurance
industry sector (+10,200). The local 4.6-percent rate of increase in financial activities jobs compared to the national decrease of 0.8 percent.
Although the overall change for the local professional and business services supersector was not significant, the professional, scientific, and technical services industry sector gained 11,500 jobs. The Dallas-Plano-Irving metropolitan division was responsible for most of that gain (+9,600).

The over-the-year employment change in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington’s largest supersector – trade,
transportation, and utilities – was not significant. However, within the supersector, significant and opposing employment changes occurred in wholesale trade (-7,200) and retail trade (+8,400).