The numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are in. The Houston – Sugar Land – Baytown area recorded the largest employment increase in the U.S. from January 2008 to January 2009 with 172,000 new jobs.

Unemployment in January 2009 was 6.5%, and this number has held steady through the statistics reported in February and March. That’s two percentage points lower than the national unemployment average of 8.5%, and much lower than the 372 metropolitan areas who have a recorded jobless rate of at least 15%.

In March the leisure and hospitality sector gained another 5,100 jobs, and the transportation and utilities sector added 4,300. And according to the Houston Business Journal, there’s good news coming from the manufacturing sector:

“Indices for production, capacity utilization, volume of new orders and shipments all edged up for the second consecutive month. Meanwhile, the business activity index, though still negative, showed improvement, and the six-month company outlook index turned positive for the first time since June 2008 with 32 percent of firms surveyed believing better days are ahead.”

Houston’s positive business environment continues.

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