RegionTrack Pic-of-the-Week:
There seems to be tremendous speculation surrounding Janet Yellen's reminder to us all this week that the Fed intends to raise interest rates multiple times in 2017. But there really isn't much mystery as to why the Fed is suddenly…
Prior to the recent surge in oil and gas production, U.S. energy consumers were facing all-time high prices for petroleum-based products and natural gas. EIA forecasts continued to suggest that energy prices would likely climb even higher going forward. Instead,…
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…