HOUSTON-Report after report paints Houston as a red-hot region. With its increasing population and jobs growth, Oil City and its surrounding environs continue to make "top-ten" lists in just about every business publication and website.
Business think tank Greater Houston Partnership doesn't disagree with any of this. However, in its August report entitled "The Economy at a Glance: Houston," it does sound a cautionary tale about too much reliance on energy as an economic driver.
"There are signs that the energy industry has supplied all the oompf! it can for this business cycle," notes the report. Specifically, rig counts have stabilized and industry employment is rising at a 5% to 6% annual rate. This isn't shabby, of course – except when compared to the double-digit growth experienced in the sector just a couple of years ago.
The GHP's assertion is that to continue its growth, Houston needs to examine other drivers, such as the US economy and international trade.
The US economy, at this point, is nothing to crow about – through the lackluster recovery, the GDP hasn't really excited anyone. Employment still struggles along; though the nation, as a whole, has added 202,000 jobs a month during the first six months of 2013, employment continues to be 2.2 million jobs below its previous peak. The labor force participation rate also has fallen.
Houston's key economic indicators are somewhat mixed as well. Though the metro area set an employment milestone in June (it surpassed 2.8 million non-farm payroll jobs for the first time in the region's history), the regional Purchasing Managers Index was down slightly, as were vehicle sales. Home sales and building permits, however, were on the rise.
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