Texas Outperforms Nation in Job Growth – Surprise Surprise
The Texas economy gained 230,000 jobs from February 2010 to February 2011, an annual growth rate of 2.3 percent. Over the same period, U.S. nonfarm employment rose 1 percent.
The state’s private sector posted an annual employment growth rate of 2.5 percent compared with 1.5 percent for the U.S. private sector from February 2010 to February 2011.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in February 2011, unchanged from February 2010, while the nation’s rate decreased from 9.7 to 8.9 percent over the same period.
All Texas industries except financial activities and information industries had more jobs in February 2011 than in February 2010.
All Texas metro areas had more jobs in February 2011 than in February 2010. Petroplexes Odessa and Midland ranked first and second, respectively, in job creation followed by Longview and Dallas-Plano-Irving.
The state’s actual unemployment rate in February 2011 was 8.2 percent. Midland had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Amarillo, Lubbock, College Station-Bryan and San Angelo.
For more information, read the Real Estate Center’s latest monthly economic review.
Source: Real Estate Center
Read MoreTEXAS BOUND FOR FAST RECOVERY?
Texas’ four major metros are in the top ten fastest-recovering cities nationwide, according to Forbes.com magazine.
Forbes ranked San Antonio the second fastest recovering city in the country, Austin the third, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington the sixth and Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown the eighth.
The magazine attributed their relatively quick recovery to San Antonio’s and Austin’s high number of municipal jobs, Dallas’ thriving technology industry and Houston’s energy sector, as well as the state housing market’s ability to remain stable while other states’ markets crashed.
“Texas didn’t have as big of a boom,” said Dr. Jim Gaines, research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. “So we’re not having anywhere near the kind of bust.”
El Paso and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission were also placed within the 100 fastest-growing MSAs, ranking 43rd and 48th, respectively.
Forbes ranked the country’s 100 largest MSAs according to each area’s September unemployment rate and foreclosures, gross metropolitan product, home prices and sales rates.
Read MoreDallas area in Top 10 of US Metros Least Touched by Recession
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
Overall rank: 5 out of top 40
The sprawling, vibrant, and diverse metro has a major international airport, professional sports teams, and large corporations. It is home to ExxonMobil, J.C. Penney, and TXU Energy. Employment in the Dallas metro peaked in the second quarter of last year. Gross metropolitan product in the second quarter was down just 1.7% from the peak in the third quarter of 2008. Home prices grew 3% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. And the unemployment rate in June was 8.2%, up 3.1 points from a year earlier. (Please see below for the various criteria used by the Brookings Institution to determine the overall ranking.)
Job growth (since peak) rank: 13
Gross Metro Product (since peak) rank: 11
Unemployment change (year over year) rank: 32
Home price change (year over year) rank: 3
A combination of stable home prices and sizable sectors in health care, energy, government, and education kept these metropolitan areas relatively stable.
America’s strongest economies have one thing in common—home prices that never got too hot or too cold.
Home prices in metros such as San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Little Rock, Ark., and Baton Rouge, La., remained steady through boom and bust. Although no metropolitan area entirely avoided the economic downturn, the most resilient metros were protected by a potent mix of recession-resistant jobs.
The upstate New York areas of Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, and Buffalo suffered from declining jobs in manufacturing, but got significant boosts from sizable health-care, education, and government sectors. Construction is booming in Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital, as firms take advantage of financing for post-Katrina hurricane recovery work and service-related companies expand to meet the needs of a growing population. Omaha and the state of Iowa have relatively strong insurance sectors.
Texas, the last state to enter recession, has been bolstered by its oil and gas industries—which have also helped Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Louisiana. Texas also has many other things going for it, including affordable home prices and relatively low wages, which attract corporations.
BusinessWeek.com used data and analysis from the Brookings Institution’s new MetroMonitor to come up with the nation’s 40 strongest economies. The MetroMonitor, which measures the nation’s health on a quarterly basis, ranks the top 100 metros based on job growth, unemployment, gross metropolitan product, and home prices.
A 22-year unemployment high in Texas
Although the metros in the ranking are strong by relative standards, their unemployment rates in many cases are now peaking because they entered the recession late. Texas, which had 5 metros in our top 10, including No. 1 San Antonio, is a good example.
The unemployment rate in Texas hit 8.2% in September, rising above 8% for the first time in 22 years. But that’s a very low unemployment rate, compared to the national rate of 9.8% or to Nevada’s 13.3% rate.
Texas is unlikely to face a prolonged downturn, said Terry Clower, an economist at the University of North Texas. The state’s affordable cost of living make it attractive to new residents and corporations, the largest of which tend to be based near Houston and Dallas.
“It’s perceived as a low-cost place to do business,” Clower said. “Because housing is affordable, the wage rates reflect that.”
Marisa Di Natale, a director at Moody’s Economy.com, said late arrivals to the recession will generally face mild downturns.
These metros “haven’t had a big erosion in housing wealth, which has kept consumer spending stronger than it would otherwise be,” Di Natale said.
Source: Business Week
Read MoreBIG D’S BIG JOB GROWTH
Three Texas cities were among the strongest job markets in the country over the past year, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Between July 2007 and July 2008, the Dallas–Fort Worth area added 68,000 nonfarm jobs, growing 2.3 percent — the highest growth rate among the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan areas.
Right behind DFW were Houston and San Antonio. Both cities posted job growth of 2.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the nation as a whole lost 174,000 jobs, not seasonally adjusted, during the 12-month period.
Source: Dallas Morning News
Read MoreTEXAS LABOR MARKET STRENGTHENS
The Texas economy is cooling but still generating more jobs than the U.S. average. Texas nonfarm employment rose 2 percent from October 2006 to October 2007 compared with the 1.2 annual growth rate of nonfarm employment for the United States.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 4.8 percent in October 2006 to 4.1 percent in October 2007.
The state’s mining industry ranked first in job creation, followed by professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and financial activities.
All Texas metro areas reported positive employment growth rates from October 2006 to October 2007. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission ranked first in job creation, followed by Austin–Round Rock, Lubbock, Dallas-Plano-Irving and Midland.
Midland had the lowest unemployment rate, followed by Amarillo, Lubbock, Odessa, College Station–Bryan, Abilene and Austin–Round Rock.
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