"Between January '07 and January '08, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Area gained more jobs than any other U.S. metropolitan area and added jobs at a faster rate than any other major metropolitan area, according to estimates published today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Houston accounted for more than 10 percent of the nation's net job growth over that period. Texas' four major metropolitan areas--Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin--together accounted for nearly 25 percent of the nation's job growth." i believe this is actually an increase over last year where houston's job growth was just under 10%. pretty impressive stuff to think that 1/4 of all new jobs created last year were created here in Texas, and that 10% of the national job growth occurred right here in Houston. regardless of the national economic crisis, business is still very very strong here.
There's a lot more too it than that. An attractive business climate consisting of low taxes and low cost of living are other key drivers
if oil tanks, the same thing that happened last time could happen. we're more diversified as a local economy than we were back then...but as much as we've diversified, the oil industry still has an overwhelming impact here.
define "tanks." i dont think you're gonna see some drastic rundown for quite awhile (if ever), although i firmly believe prices are bound to see moderate longterm decreases; they days of $50 or even $60 barrels are long gone, though.... but i have zero qualifications regarding economic and financial analysis. jusy my humble opinion. regardless of the energy sector (which extends far beyond just oil anyways), the houston economy is significantly more diversified than we were 20+ years ago. health care, financials, tech, aerospace, shipping... we're pretty strong across the board. edit: but i do agree with max, if energy does in fact "tank," the city will definitely feel it in a hard way.
i'm not saying you're wrong...but we heard this exact same thing before. oil has more than quadrupled in price over the course of the past 4 years. i don't think that's sustainable. but, like you, it's just my humble opinion.
The question is whether the run up over the last 4 years is sustainable or if the depressed prices prior to 4 years ago were not sustainable. I am too dumb to know the answer, but I have decreased my stock holdings in oil companies over the last 6 months as I thought they increased in value too much.
sent to me via email... let mke see if a link was attached. pdf: http://www.houston.org/blackfenders/10AW001.pdf
hmm, interesting. i was thinking to move my wheel business to Houston. Anyone have any friends in wheel business in Houston? so I can ask some questions?
sure there is, but don't be fooled. we are still largely dependent on big oil paving the way. Up until recently, a large portion of the economy was based on the housing boom. We have yet to see the full trickle down from that sector. Luckily, with the ship channel expansion and the Panama Canal expansion, many business' still see Houston as an attractive atmosphere. Also, with tax benefits for warehouses in the Conroe area, we may be able to steal some warehouses and distribution center activity from DFW. But if oil were to theoretically crash (and I agree that it's pretty damn unlikey), coupled with the housing fall we would be in some deep trouble.
As someone who is looking to relocatefrom NYC to Houston to be home again, I can tell you that the legal job market, at least, sucks balls unless you are an energy-industry transactional attorney. Quite a few friends of mine up here who are looking to move back have the same problem. 'High end" jobs? Not so much in Houston.
I heard recently that the Houston economy is +/- 50% dependent on oil these days, which is still high, but nowhere near the % in the 80's. Houston's economy is being driven by 3 things that are all doing really well right now: 1. Energy/oil 2. Med Center 3. Port
