In the past one year, the US economy has taken a series of blows. The housing mortgage crisis, spiralling energy costs and the recent crisis in credit markets has led to the worst slow down in many years. The evidence of recession-like conditions is only too evident in an economy suffering from the worst job cuts in the past five years.

While jobs have been slashed across the country, some sections not only seemed to have survived the carnage but have even shown signs of growing opportunities. One such example is Texas which is home to three of the top labor markets in the country, according to a new Bizjournals survey. Houston, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas occupy the top three positions in the latest employment rankings of the country’s 100 metropolitan areas. The three Texas markets have contributed to 107200 private-sector jobs in all since mid-2007 even as their unemployment rate has remained steadfastly below 5%.

The reasons which have enabled Texas to emerge as one of the hottest labor markets are ironically the same that have slashed jobs elsewhere – namely high energy costs. The growing job opportunities in the three Texas markets have been driven by the boom in the natural resources and mining industry of the state helped by rising energy prices.