Texas jobs on pace for strongest growth since 2014, says Dallas Fed economist

For Immediate Release: May 11, 2018

DALLAS—The Texas economy continues to show momentum in 2018, posting 3.5 percent job growth in the first quarter.

“That’s broadly in line with the 3.4 percent rate of job growth we expect for 2018 as a whole,” said Jason L. Saving, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas senior research economist, in a video accompanying the latest Texas Economic Update. “Were that rate of job growth to be realized, that would be the state’s strongest job growth since 2014.”

The state’s energy sector continues to boom, and that expansion has benefited the Houston metro area. Dallas and Austin also saw a significant pickup in jobs. San Antonio job growth weakened in the first quarter, likely due in part to moderating effects following a strong surge in post-Hurricane Harvey leisure and hospitality hiring.

Statewide, both the manufacturing and service sectors demonstrate continued strength.

“The headline indexes of our Texas Business Outlook Surveys are well above their long-run, postrecession averages, suggesting that economic growth in the state is both strong and broad based across sectors,” said Saving.

Price pressures on businesses have increased, particularly for manufacturers. Wage pressures also remain high, reflecting the state’s tight labor market, Saving said.

“Wage and price pressures remain elevated in the state, especially [in] our Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey’s raw materials index,” he said. “Regarding wages, on the service sector front, we had 26.6 percent of respondents saying that they’d raised wages over the last month, which was an all-time high.”

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Media contact:
Jennifer Chamberlain
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Phone: (214) 922-6748
E-mail: jennifer.chamberlain@dal.frb.org