The number of jobs in the Austin metro was down 2.7% in January compared with the same month a year prior — ranking it the third-strongest labor market among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas.

The Austin area had 31,100 fewer nonfarm payroll jobs at the beginning of this year than it did in January 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic caused the unemployment rate to climb. The region only trailed Jacksonville, Florida, and Salt Lake City among the top-performing cities in a March 16 analysis by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. Jacksonville had 19,700 fewer jobs in January than a year earlier, which was also a decline of 2.7%, and Salt Lake City recorded a decline 5,000 jobs, or 0.7%.

https://www.bizjournals.com/au...