Texas Awarded Numerous Recognitions for Strengthening Economy and Attractive Business Climate

While the Texas economy may have hit some rocky spots, current indicators show that the state is turning itself around and on a positive path of growth. In fact, the state recently received Area Development Magazine’s 2015 Gold Shovel Award, which recognizes states with populations over 12 million for excellence in state job creation and economic development efforts. According to Area Development Magazine, Texas received the honor largely due to its declining unemployment rate and its diverse economy.

In addition to receiving a Gold Shovel Award, the state was also named by Chief Executive Magazine as the number one spot for businesses in 2014, making it the 10^th year in a row the state has earned the top spot. Site Magazine also listed Texas as the best state for corporate expansions in March 2015. What exactly is driving the state’s success, and what still needs to be overcome for Texas to fully recover from the Great Recession of 2008?

For those who live in Texas, it is no surprise that the state draws income from a variety of different sources. The main three sources of economic stimulus for the state include health care, technology and manufacturing.

Among the state’s leaders in the manufacturing field is Toyota Motor Company, which recently located its headquarters from California to Plano, Texas. Experts estimate that the move brought $354 million to the Texas economy along with 4,000 new jobs to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Texas Employment Growth Benefits Home Owners

While Texas is still behind some states in terms of employment growth, the state has experienced some impressive areas of growth. For example, JGC American Inc. has announced plans to hire around 1,000 people for its Westchase location over the next three years. Still, the state is dealing with one of the biggest oil slumps it has ever faced, which has significantly impacted the state’s economy and job-growth potential. In fact, 1,000 planned layoffs in the month of May were directly related to the drop in oil prices.

Fortunately, Challenger, Gray & Christmas are reporting that job losses related to declining oil prices are likely to start slowing down. While there was originally an expectation of 61,582 job cuts in April, the figures fell 33 percent to 41,034 in May. In all, 20,675 job cuts in April were either directly or indirectly related to oil prices. With oil prices starting to stabilizing, exploration and extraction companies are not likely to make too many additional cuts.

Not only do they need to have enough workers to cover current demand, but they also need to be prepared when prices ultimately go back up. As such, most experts predict that there is not likely to be another round of severe job cuts in the oil industry in 2015 unless there is another sharp drop in oil prices.

To learn more about the Texas state economy or to gather more information about the local real estate outlook in Dallas-Fort Worth, contact our team of real estate experts today.

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