SAN ANTONIO – WBAP/KLIF – The Texas economy is expected to once again outpace the national economic growth average in 2020, but The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas senior economist Keith Phillips says worker availability will keep the state from peak growth.
Phillips predicts a 2.1% growth rate in 2020, about the same as the 2.0 rate in 2019. Phillips say trade wars affecting tariffs, hits to the energy sector tied to the price of oil, and any possible national recession would be the biggests risks to the Lone Star State’s economy.
In his speech, Phillips says labor market restraints continues to suppress job growth; Phillips notes fewer Americans nationwide are being laid off, and when they are, more opportunities await them in their regions, as the national jobless rate continues to drop along with the Texas rate.
Among the state’s major metropolitan areas, job growth slowed in Houston in 2019, was barely changed in Dallas and Austin, and picked up in Fort Worth and in San Antonio.
The Dallas Fed releases its Texas Employment Forecast on a monthly basis in conjunction with the release of monthly Texas employment data. The forecast projects job growth for the calendar year and is estimated as the 12-month change in payroll employment from December to December. The next release is scheduled in March.(
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