Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX MSA — September 2026
Beaumont-Port Arthur job growth outpaces Texas, but so does joblessness.
The metro added 2,100 jobs over the year for 1.2% growth — ahead of Texas's 1.1% — yet its 6.2% unemployment rate remains the fourth-highest among Texas metros, well above the state's 4.0-4.4% range.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 6.2% — vs 4.0-4.4% Texas, ~5% Houston (Aug 2026)
- Annual job growth: 1.2% — vs 1.1% Texas statewide growth
- Total metro jobs: 171,700 — Up 2,100 jobs year-over-year
- Jefferson County unemployment: 6.3% — 13th highest among all Texas counties
Key takeaways
Job growth and unemployment are rising together — an unusual split.
The metro added 2,100 jobs over the year, a 1.2% growth rate ahead of both Texas and Houston, yet unemployment climbed to 6.2%, fourth-highest among Texas metros. The combination is consistent with workers entering or re-entering the labor force faster than employers can absorb them, or with out-migration of trained workers leaving a residual pool less matched to open roles.
Construction and health care are carrying the expansion.
Outpatient care centers, residential building construction, and building finishing contractors are the named growth drivers this month, a pattern that mirrors national and statewide sector divergence toward hands-on, place-based work. For commerce leaders, this suggests the metro's momentum is grounded in physical buildout and care delivery rather than office-based or white-collar expansion.
Wage movements are sending mixed signals across the local basket.
Registered Nurse advertised pay is up significantly to $86,814 and Accountant pay rose significantly to $65,000, while Construction Laborer pay fell significantly to $32,923 and Manufacturing Production Worker pay dropped to $35,360 despite sector job gains. Rising pay in some growth sectors alongside falling pay in others suggests uneven bargaining power even within expanding parts of the local economy.
A 6.2% jobless rate is the number outside observers will ask about first.
Texas's statewide rate sits near 4.0-4.4% and Houston's near 5%, so Beaumont-Port Arthur's gap is large enough that press and site-selection analysts will treat it as the headline fact regardless of job-count growth. Framing that acknowledges both figures together — growth and the rate — will read as more credible than emphasizing one in isolation.
Median advertised pay by role — Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $22,248 | $27,040 | $31,200 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $21,840 | $24,408 | $26,000 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $29,012 | $34,462 | $37,076 | Stable | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $56,160 | $78,400 | $95,000 | Moderate increase | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $26,051 | $30,212 | $32,281 | Significant decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $28,607 | $32,923 | $37,424 | Significant decline | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $59,031 | $71,345 | $76,676 | Moderate increase | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $29,120 | $35,360 | $39,520 | Significant decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $30,805 | $37,316 | $41,865 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $25,648 | $27,279 | $27,456 | Moderate decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $29,801 | $35,872 | $37,435 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $23,988 | $36,023 | $39,789 | Significant decline | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $54,080 | $62,400 | $67,503 | Stable | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $77,181 | $86,814 | $93,382 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $110,642 | $135,955 | $140,519 | Significant decline | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer * | $100,220 | $136,140 | $154,980 | Moderate increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $55,895 | $65,000 | $74,077 | Significant increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $75,335 | $94,855 | $104,828 | Significant increase | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $54,321 | $60,073 | $61,500 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist * | $46,677 | $60,734 | $71,585 | Stable | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $70,000 | $83,712 | $98,391 | Moderate decline | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $28,236 | $49,493 | $54,451 | Stable | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $52,508 | $84,684 | $99,352 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $48,368 | $70,237 | $81,507 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $88,735 | $104,025 | $164,400 | Significant increase | $98,279 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $74,931 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $58,542 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $36,300 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $71,500 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $67,080 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $51,340 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $54,080 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $57,200 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $28,848 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Government | $67,574 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Beaumont-Port Arthur added 400 jobs in August and now counts 171,700 total positions, up 2,100 over the year — a 1.2% growth rate that outpaces both Texas (1.1%) and Houston, driven largely by outpatient care expansion, residential construction, and building finishing contractors tied to ongoing petrochemical-adjacent activity. That growth coexists with an unemployment rate of 6.2%, the fourth-highest among Texas's 26 metro areas, a divergence consistent with reports that trained workers continue leaving the region for opportunities elsewhere even as local employers expand.
What it means
Job growth outpacing the state average signals genuine economic momentum for a metro that often gets overlooked relative to Houston, giving commerce leaders a defensible case for business investment and site-selection conversations. The persistent gap between job creation and a stubbornly high unemployment rate, however, points to a labor-supply and participation problem rather than a demand problem — worth distinguishing clearly when discussing the region's investment climate with outside stakeholders. Current conditions suggest economic development leaders consider examining labor force participation and out-migration data alongside job counts, rather than job growth figures alone, when characterizing the metro's trajectory.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Whether the 400-job August gain repeats in September data will indicate if construction and health care expansion has durable momentum or was a one-month bump. Workforce Solutions Southeast Texas releases local figures roughly monthly and is the most current source to track.
Emerging pressure point: The gap between job growth (1.2%) and unemployment (6.2%) raises a labor force participation question state economists will want answered — is the labor pool growing faster than jobs, or is out-migration thinning the pool of job-ready workers who remain. Either answer carries different implications for regional development strategy.
Potential inflection point: National hiring cooled sharply in September (29,000 jobs added, well below the 45,000 trailing average) with wage growth slipping to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation — the first real-wage erosion in two years. Watch whether that national softening reaches Southeast Texas sectors tied to discretionary consumer spending, such as retail and hospitality.
Early indicator: Government employment fell 1,000 jobs locally in July even as Professional & Business Services and Health Services each added modestly. A continued pattern of public-sector contraction alongside private-sector gains would be a notable local divergence from the metro's traditional reliance on public employment for stability.
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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