Amid turbulent times for U.S. workers, the Dallas-Fort Worth area job market has cruised along.

MELANIE BURFORD/DMN

A test is given at Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital in Dallas. The health- care field is considered recession-proof.

The region added 68,000 jobs in the 12 months ended July 31, the most of any U.S. metropolitan area, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Just where are these jobs?

A Dallas Morning News analysis of regional employment statistics found that the private industries adding the most jobs were:

•Health care

•Construction

•Hotels, restaurants and bars

•Warehouse and distribution

•Employment services

"Probably the best place to ride out the recession is right here," said Bernard Weinstein, director of the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of North Texas. "Houston and D-FW are the two best metro areas in the country."

Of course, not all local industries are hiring, but many Texas cities are faring better than the average U.S. city.

Texas as a whole led the nation in employment growth, adding 248,600 jobs and accounting for 43 percent of all U.S. job growth in the 12-month period, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

Industry experts caution that job growth is slowing and the outlook for the next 12 months is unclear.

Still, Dr. Weinstein thinks Texas and Dallas-Fort Worth can withstand a "fairly deep and fairly prolonged" national recession.

This story is based on a Dallas Morning News analysis of state and local employment data from the Texas Workforce Commission.

The resulting top-growth industries posted the biggest job gains for the 12 months ended July 31 for the 12-county Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan statistical area. The data are not seasonally adjusted.

We labeled some categories to reflect the primary source of D-FW job growth rather than follow the state's labels. For example, warehouse and distribution replaced "wholesale trade." Also, the Workforce Commission groups health care, social assistance and education jobs together, but health care jobs account for the lion's share of the growth. The same is true for mining and construction, which is mostly construction.

Government jobs appear as a category in the state's list, but we excluded them because they account for only about 10 percent of area employment. Local government – largely school workers – accounted for the most job gains (13,000) in the 12-month period, but the numbers are seasonal with most of the jobs disappearing in the summer.

Sheryl Jean