Special Questions

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

Data were collected June 10–18, and 82 Texas manufacturers responded to the surveys.

NOTES: 74 responses. Shown are averages, calculated as trimmed means with the lowest and highest 5 percent of responses omitted.

NOTE: 81 responses.

NOTES: 82 responses. "Domestic policy uncertainty" was added in December 2023.

NOTE: 82 responses.

NOTES: 15 responses. This question was only posed to those currently experiencing supply-chain disruptions/delays.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Data were collected June 10–18, and 266 Texas business executives responded to the surveys.

NOTES: 229 responses. Shown are averages, calculated as trimmed means with the lowest and highest 5 percent of responses omitted.

NOTE: 252 responses.

NOTES: 252 responses. "Domestic policy uncertainty" was added in December 2023.

NOTE: 251 responses.

NOTES: 27 responses. This question was only posed to those currently experiencing supply-chain disruptions/delays.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

Data were collected June 10–18, and 57 Texas retailers responded to the surveys.

NOTES: 48 responses. Shown are averages, calculated as trimmed means with the lowest and highest 5 percent of responses omitted.

NOTE: 53 responses.

NOTES: 53 responses. "Domestic policy uncertainty" was added in December 2023.

NOTE: 53 responses.

NOTES: 8 responses. This question was only posed to those currently experiencing supply-chain disruptions/delays.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Special Questions Comments

These comments have been edited for publication.

• It's the new normal, but we're in the food business, and retail demand has been strong due to the increased prices at food service [restaurants].

• Consumer home goods/mattress demand is very low due to high interest rates and a lack of home sales associated with new mattress purchases.

• Raw aluminum costs have "artificially" increased over the past three months. Investor "funds" have run the futures price up, affecting what the current price is. We expect the cost to come down in the months ahead since the overall supply of aluminum is adequate, and worldwide demand is down.

• Our supply chain is much improved versus 2021–23, but we are still seeing some supplier delays causing inefficiencies in our assembly process.

• The huge tax increases proposed by the Biden administration are a major concern. We will certainly scale back our expansion efforts and reduce head count if Biden is reelected. We are seeing more pushback from customers on pricing and less willingness to accept price increases, even though our raw material and labor costs continue to increase.
• We live in a completely different economic environment where demographics play a major role in our labor force. The lack of government stability and pro-business initiatives hinder GDP growth in the United States and will cause major problems in the next five to seven years if we don't do something about it.

• Suppliers are shipping to customers that can easily pay higher prices for their products first and then supplying others if they have production time available.

• In our industry, one disruption is a shortage of containers to move import/export cargo. This is the supply chain disruption we are currently experiencing. We are having to cancel export orders because the shipping lines do not have enough equipment positioned in this market area.

• We have noticed that the businesses that provide services have had a challenge to get replacement parts, which has delayed equipment repairs. A good example is the air conditioning repair businesses having to search for computer components.

• As a pure service business our input prices are almost exclusively labor.
• We are having supply chain issues for a specific type of insulation for some of our projects. We have been able to provide available substitutes in most situations.

• Continuing uncertainty regarding macroeconomic conditions outweighs industry and company concerns.
• Our main issue is if the election or the economy causes property owners to suspend capital projects. We are also still struggling with filling some key positions.

• We are a bank. Rates on assets and deposits are higher this year versus last year.

• We added an appraisal trainee to assist with workload. Demand for real estate appraisal and consulting has returned to a level that we feel comfortable taking on a part-time employee.

• Policy uncertainty impacts international student enrollment, which is a significant revenue source for us.

• Many new restaurants are opening, increasing competition. So far this year, not including chains, there have been 127 openings and 52 closings. That’s much worse than last year, which was 140 openings and 40 closings all year. 

• Banks have been reluctant to offer limits of credit, so short-term purchases have been done on company credit cards at 29 percent APR (annual percentage rate). This causes a strain on cash flow.

• Supply-chain issues have mostly subsided. However, several suppliers have baked in longer lead times than pre-COVID. We do not see those longer lead times going away this year.

• Most of our supply disruptions are from our vehicle manufacturers’ quality issues. Labor quality is a problem.

• It is hard to understand what the customer is thinking. We have talked to retailers around our business, and we all are in the same situation: Demand is falling.