Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/26/2011 -- The unemployment rate in Texas has gone up slightly in December 2010, but the state was able to add 20,000 jobs that month.

Texas had an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent in December, up from 8.2 percent in November. But the 20,000 jobs created meant that this was the fourth consecutive month of net jobs creation.

Construction created around 8,700 jobs. Leisure and hospitality came in second place with 6,600 jobs. Since December 2009, Texas has been able to add around 230,000 jobs, which is 2.3 percent annual growth rate. The national rate for job creation during this period has been 0.9 percent. Professional and business services also accounted for a big part of the jobs growth, adding around 64,000 jobs in 2010.

Hound, a job search engine, has been able to gather over 51,000 job postings in Texas from employer websites. Hound CEO A. Harrison Barnes says that most of the job openings are in healthcare, retail, hospitality, and information technology. Other categories with considerable openings include accounting and customer service.