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Texas economy bucks national trends: Chamber luncheon touts state economy
By Anthony Tosie, atosie@starlocalnews.com
Economist Elizabeth Morris has good news for Texas residents and business owners: we're not in that bad of shape. Speaking at the Frisco Chamber of Commerce luncheon held July 26, Morris said Texas has a lot to be proud about in regards to its current economic climate.
"Texas and North Dakota are two bright spots in the entire country -- there's a lot of jobs being created [in these two states]," said Morris, founder and CEO of Insight Research Corporation. "Texas, as you all may have [heard], has created more jobs over the last year and a half than the rest of the country put together."
While the national economy continues to maintain an unemployment rate of approximately 7.9 percent, the Texas unemployment rate currently sits at about 6.8 percent, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In addition to the state's positive economic condition, the Dallas-Fort Worth area is also in a strong economic position. In June, the Census Bureau revealed that eight Texas cities -- Round Rock, Austin, Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Denton, McAllen and Carrollton -- were among the top-15 fastest-growing large cities from April 2010 to July 2011.
Frisco came in at sixth on that list with a 3.8 percent increase in population.
Texas residents are taking advantage of the state's positive economic environment, Morris said, as they're generally more optimistic about their state's economy than residents in other states around the country.
"Notice how consumers in this area feel about spending money -- people in this area feel more comfortable spending money," she explained. "We're looking at a 90 percent consumer confidence level [in the state of Texas]."
Eliza Lott, senior vice-president of Collin Bank, agreed with Morris's assessment of the local economy.
"I can validate everything that she said, such as capital investment growth, is actually happening [in our area]," Lott said. "The bank in general is doing very well. As a banker, I'm pleased as punch to be in our small community with a thriving economy."
Alan Beauchamp, managing partner of Forest Park Medical Center Frisco, also agreed with the belief that Texas is in a good economic situation.
"Jobs are available in Texas," he said. "What was amazing about our Frisco [application process] is that we had more than 10,000 applications for just 316 jobs. We had applicants from every state in the United States, and the quality of applicants was just amazing."
Morris said Texans need to ignore coverage of the national economy, as it isn't necessarily indicative of the Texas economy.
"We need to turn off the TV and start paying attention to local economic information instead of getting beaten down every day by the national media," she told the luncheon audience. "Their [economic] numbers are different than ours."
While the news is good overall, Morris was quick to point out there are potential roadblocks to the state's positive economic trend and continued national recovery. One of those areas is the issue of shrinking tax bases.
"What we're getting are school teachers that are struggling and local government payrolls that are shrinking," Morris said. "This is a situation in the whole country. For the first time in my adult life, we're seeing a serious decline in local government employment. That means that cities like Detroit are de-annexing neighborhoods because they can't serve them."
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