Sluggish job growth trends continue across the Rio Grande Valley in April

The Rio Grande Valley’s two largest metro areas added 3,700 more jobs through April than during the same month last year, new Bureau of Labor Statistics data shared by the Texas Workforce Commission shows. 

The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area had 310,200 nonfarm jobs in April, adding 3,200 over the year, an increase of about 1%. 

Private education and health services continued to be the largest sector in the McAllen metro, with 98,500 jobs and the fastest growing over the year, up 4.45% in April. 

The industry that saw the largest decline was professional and business services, which dropped 5.12% to 24,100 jobs. It was followed by federal government jobs, which were down 4%, to 4,800 jobs in April. 

The McAllen metro job market grew the most in the past decade. 

Between 2020 and 2021,as it bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic, it added 8.8% jobs through April. There were more bumps of 5.3% growth between 2021 and 2022 and a 3% increase between 2022 and 2023. The pace of job growth slowed to 2% between 2023 and 2024, then 1.82% between 2024 and 2025. 

The Brownsville-Harlingen metro area recorded 159,400 nonfarm jobs in April, adding 500 jobs over the year, or an increase of 0.3%. The industry that saw the largest decline was the manufacturing sector, which dropped by 7.58% to 6,100 jobs, followed by mining, logging and construction which was down 5.26% to 3,600 jobs. Federal government jobs grew the fastest, by 18.5% in one year to 3,200 jobs. 

The private education and health services sector remained the largest employer with 46,900 jobs in the Brownsville metro — growing 0.8% over the year through April.

The Brownsville metro job market saw a bumpier path over the past decade. Overall, jobs increased from 140,900 to 159,400 between 2016 and 2026, but there were several years of less than 1% growth. The most notable increase was between 2021 and 2022, when the market expanded by 3%, but it has since dropped below 2% for several years. 

By comparison, Texas added 64,100 jobs through April, an increase of 0.4%. The U.S. job market added 327,000 jobs through April, an increase of 0.2%. 

Some major changes over the past year which have affected the Rio Grande Valley include a major decrease in international migration into the region, significantly higher gas and diesel prices, in addition to higher food prices due to inflation.