Archive for the ‘Texas Economy’ category

Texas Adds More Than 100k Jobs

October 3rd, 2010

Unemployment Graph Texas and USAccording to the Real Estate Center at College Station, Texas added 133,100 jobs to its economy from August 2009 to August 2010.  This resulted in an annual growth rate of 1.3 percent.   Though the United States also saw an increase in jobs over this same period, adding 278,000 jobs, it did not keep pace with Texas’ growth, posting only a 0.2 percent increase.  Twenty-four Texas metro areas saw a positive employment growth rate from August 2009 to August 2010.  This was up from only 19 metro areas for the July 2009 to July 2010 period.

The metro area of Sherman-Denison (an area just north of Dallas) led the state with a 3.6 percent growth rate.  This was followed by San Angelo, the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos area, Odessa, Tyler, the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood area, and College Station/Bryan which all saw a percent growth rate of at least 2.0 percent.  Dallas ranked twelfth showing a 1.2 percent growth rate with the San Antonio-New Braunfels area posting only a 0.1 percent increase.  The Houston area showed no growth.

Despite the increase in jobs, Texas’ unemployment rate still rose, posting a 0.3 percent gain over last August.  The unemployment rate for the state rose from 8 percent in August 2009 to 8.3 percent in August 2010 while the country’s unemployment rate actually decreased from 9.7 to 9.6 percent for the same period of time.

Overall, employment rates are beginning to creep up, with Texas ahead of the nations’ curve as far as job production.  Despite the data, many Americans are still unemployed, facing foreclosure and are struggling to manage in a continued weak economy.  An unemployment rate over 8 percent still ushers in many desperate people without work or a true vision of employment in the near future.  It will be many years before the country, including Texas, will be able to recover from these faintly optimistic yet rather gloomy employment numbers.

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Texas’ Economy Continues to Strengthen

September 5th, 2010

State of Texas with FlagAfter suffering through a weak economy with double-digit months of  unemployment, Texas appears to be near the top of the heap in the country and on an economic upswing.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the District of Colombia and five states reported statistically significant increases.  Texas posted the largest statistically significant year-over-the-year employment increases adding 134,600 jobs.  The other states which saw increases were Indiana, up 47,600 jobs, Massachusetts, up 36,600, New Hampshire up 8,700 and North Dakota up 6,200.   Four states saw statistically significant job losses, overcoming the positive gains from the states with increases, thus causing a countrywide stagnation.  States with the most job losses included California realizing a 103,900 loss, New York with a loss of 51,400, Georgia with a loss of 39,100 and New Jersey with a loss of 34,000.

According to recent information released by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, Texas has had three months of positive annual employment growth after 16 months of job losses.   The growth rate from July 2009 to July 2010 was 1.3 percent for the entire state, compared with a rate close to zero percent for the nation.   Nineteen Texas metro areas had positive employment growth rates with San Angelo leading the state with a percent growth rate of 3% followed by College Station at 2.9% and the Austin area with 2.5% growth.  Other metro areas such as Dallas, Corpus Christi, and El Paso saw a positive growth rate in employment also.  San Antonio and Houston had a slight decline in employment.

Texas Metropolitan Areas Ranked by Employment Growth Rate,

July 2009 to July 2010 (Rank Metro Area Percent Growth Rate)

1.            San Angelo (3.0)

2.            College Station-Bryan (2.9)

3.            Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos (2.5)

4.            McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (2.0)

5.            Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood (1.9)

6.            Dallas-Plano-Irving (1.3)

Texas  (1.3)

7.            Corpus Christi (1.0)

8.            Sherman-Denison (0.7)

8.            Lubbock (0.7)

8.            Odessa (0.7)

8.            El Paso (0.7)

Source: Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University

In addition, all Texas industries except the construction and information industries had more jobs in July 2010 compared with July 2009 numbers.

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Everything’s Bigger in Texas, Including Business

July 24th, 2010

In CNBC’s recent study, Top States For Business 2010, Texas came out on top for 2010.  Texas posted the highest total points in the history of the study, allowing it to reclaim the top spot over number two Virginia, which was number one last year.  The points are based on “40 different metrics in ten key categories” and the categories are weighted as follows according to the CNBC study:

Big Texan* Cost of Doing Business (450 points)

* Workforce (350 points)

* Quality of Life (350 points)

* Economy (314 points)

* Transportation & Infrastructure (300 points)

* Technology & Innovation (250 points)

* Education (175 points)

* Business Friendliness (175 points)

* Access to Capital (50 points)

* Cost of Living (25 points)

After the points were tallied, Texas ranked number one followed by Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina, and Massachusetts at number five.    Rounding out the bottom five were West Virginia, Nevada, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Alaska at number 50.

According to government figures, the Texas economy is ranked 15th in the world, bigger than many countries.  It is also home to 64 companies in the Fortune 500, more than any other state.  Big business helped Texas’ economy rise to the top.  That along with many other factors including a more stable real estate market has helped Texas appeal to big businesses.

Despite the fact that the state still has a multi-billion dollar deficit to wrestle, the business economy is healthy and the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M recently reported that Texas has seen positive employment growth in many parts of the state along with job growth in many industries in the state.

For more information on the study, visit: http://www.cnbc.com/id/37642856

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Forbes.com – Best Cities for Young Professionals – 3 Texas Cities Hit Top Ten List

July 18th, 2010

In Forbes’ fourth annual list of “Best Cities for Young Professionals”, Houston, Texas ranked number one followed closely by Dallas which ranked sixth and Austin which rounded out the top ten at number ten.  At a time when unemployment across the country is close to ten percent, recent college graduates are finding it more difficult to find good paying jobs upon graduation.

These top ten cities are places for the young business professional to seek employment and receive better than average incomes.  The list was compiled based on the rankings of unemployment numbers, average income and cost of living.  Forbes also ranked metro areas based upon how many of the 200 largest U.S. public companies were located in that area.  “Elite graduates” were also factored into the equation.  Forbes counted the number of Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Rice, and Northwestern University Class of 2000 graduates who were living in each city today.

Forbes declared, “The Lone Star Shines” based on the fact that three of the top ten cities on their list hail from Texas.  Houston, ranks number one overall, and boasts a strong economy, good average income and is home to 14 of the top 200 public companies, second only to New York City.  Dallas at number six offers a “$63,000 median salary for college graduates,” and Austin has low unemployment numbers compared to the rest of the nation.  Below is how Texas stacked up:

Houston, Texas (Courtesy of Woolie Monster)

Houston, Texas

1. Houston, Texas
(Metropolitan Statistical Area: Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas)
Cost of Living rank: 27
Large Companies rank: 2
Elite Graduates rank: 6
Average Income rank: 7
Unemployment rank: 18

6. Dallas, Texas
(Metropolitan Statistical Area: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas)
Cost of Living rank: 28
Large Companies rank: 10
Elite Graduates rank: 13
Average Income rank: 12
Unemployment rank: 13

10. Austin, Texas
(Metropolitan Statistical Area: Austin-Round Rock, Texas)
Cost of Living rank: 33
Large Companies rank: 25
Elite Graduates rank: 11
Average Income rank: 17
Unemployment rank: 5

Other cities on the list were Washington, DC (2nd), Minneapolis /St.Paul, MN (3rd),  New York, NY (4th), Boston, MA (5th), Seattle, WA (7th), Denver, CO (8th), and Atlanta, GA (9th ).

The full Forbes list can be accessed at their website: http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/17/best-cities-young-professionals-lifestyle-real-estate-careers.html

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Texas Leads the Way: Digging the Nation out of the Recession the Texas Way

July 18th, 2010

According to a recent report by the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, Texas appears to be leading the nation out of the recession based on recent data.  The report reveals positive employment growth in many parts of the state and measurable increases in job growth in many industries in the state.

Unemployment Line

Unemployment Line

Based on the report by Ali Anari and Mark G. Dotzour, “After 16 months of job losses, the state’s annual employment growth rate turned positive and posted an annual employment growth rate of 0.2 percent for the period from May 2009 to May 2010. The nation’s rate of job losses has decreased from 4 percent in August 2009 to 0.4 percent in May 2010.”

Texas saw positive employment growth in thirteen of its metro areas from May 2009 to May 2010.  According to the study College Station-Byran ranked first in job creation.  The Austin-Round Rock – San Marcos area became the leader in Texas for major economic recovery, showing two consecutive months of job gains.  The Dallas area, including Plano and Irving, saw a

positive growth rate in May 2010 after 19 months of job losses.  The rank of the top thirteen metro areas are below with percent growth in parenthesis:

1.College Station-Bryan (3.3)

2. San Angelo (2.7)

3. Waco (2.4)

4. Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood (2.1)

5. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (1.6)

6. El Paso (0.9)

6. Brownsville-Harlingen (0.9)

6. Tyler (0.9)

9. Texarkana (0.5)

9. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos (0.5)

11. Laredo (0.3)

11. Lubbock (0.3)

11. Dallas-Plano-Irving (0.3)

Beyond that, five Texas industries produced more jobs in May 2010 than in May 2009.  The industries included education and health services, mining and logging, other services, leisure and hospitality, professional and business including the government sector.  The education and health services added 59,500 jobs, the government sector added 35,100 jobs, the leisure and hospitality industry saw an increase of 10,600 jobs, andprofessional and business services added 1,500 jobs.  Other services which include

repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, religious, civic and professional organizations gained 4,800 jobs.  The mining industry grew by 4.3 percent. (The complete report can be viewed at: http://recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1862.pdf ).

Positive employment data has helped make Texas a true shining star during this economic recovery period.

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