The economic personalities of the Dallas and Houston metro areas are a bit Jekyll and Hyde at the moment. The Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area has added jobs at an increasing pace since the recession ended, reaching an astounding job growth rate of nearly…
We often refer to Colorado as one of the ‘Super States.’ That select group of high-performing states with strong job and wage growth, rapid in-migration of new residents, an educated workforce, abundant high-tech activity, and so on. You get the picture.
But it is the old fashioned commodity markets, particularly crude oil and natural gas, that are once again acting as a ball and chain to slow down hiring in The Centennial State. The oil and gas industry hit the wall at the end of 2014, and it continues to take some of the starch out of job growth in the state.
The collapse in energy prices (both crude oil and natural gas) will continue to weigh on much of the Oklahoma economy in 2016. Statewide, our projected job loss is -0.6% on a year-over-year basis. The weakness should be widespread but concentrated in a…
The latest outlook on domestic crude production from the U.S. Department of Energy is not encouraging. Domestic oil production is not expected to bottom until September 2016.
Currently, Oklahoma has the distinction of having the largest share of total household earnings* coming directly from the oil and gas industry – an astounding 13.9% for all of 2014. In fact, Oklahoma now has the highest share ever posted by a state in the modern energy era, with Wyoming’s 13.5% share in 1982 ranking a close second.