Trade pacts could boost Texas, but other states wary

For Texas, trade is a dynamo. Through October, goods exports exceeded $168 billion. That represents a major recovery from the recession and already puts Texas exports well ahead of the full-year totals for 2009 and 2007.

...But what's good for Texas is not necessarily good for states like Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina, which have lost millions of manufacturing jobs because of America's great appetite for imports.


Landers reports, with an assist from Gillman in DC: http://dallasne.ws/eQzBYe

Texas adds almost 48,000 jobs in October, but jobless rate stays at 8.1 percent

Texas employers expanded payrolls by 47,900 jobs in October, the most since May, but the state jobless rate remained unchanged at 8.1 percent, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday. The October jobs gain followed three consecutive months of falling payrolls. A preliminary gain of 3,700 jobs in September was revised to a loss of 7,600, according to data released Friday. The state also lost jobs in July and August.


Brendan Case: http://dallasne.ws/9Jy3bt

Texas likely to lead nation in economic growth, researchers forecast

AUSTIN – Texas lost hundreds of thousands of jobs last year as it stumbled through the deep national recession. But the state is likely to shine as the nation's economic growth leader over the next decade, according to research and forecasting firm IHS Global Insight.

Brendan Case reports: http://dallasne.ws/bu5mc3

Combs: Economic recovery 'not yet in evidence'

Garrett:
Comptroller Susan Combs just announced that Texas' sales tax receipts for last month were up by 2.2. percent over a year earlier. The state's 6 1/4-percent sales tax generated $1.61 billion in June, compared with $1.57 billion in June 2009. "Total sales tax collections have now slightly exceeded year-ago levels for a third consecutive month," Combs said, citing the 1.4 percent increase posted in April and the negligible 0.1 percent uptick in May.
http://dallasne.ws/bO6OBd

Texas employers add 43,600 jobs

Brendan Case reports on the latest TWC figures:

 Texas employers expanded payrolls by 43,600 jobs in May, the largest monthly gain in more than three years, according to preliminary data released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission.
http://tinyurl.com/27ocbfd

Texas jobs up slightly in March; unemployment rate steady

Brendan Case blogs from our Economy Watch blog about the latest employment numbers in Texas:

Texas employers expanded payrolls by 8,500 jobs in March, while the jobless rate remained unchanged at 8.2 percent for the fifth month in a row, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday.


Government number-crunchers also made a significant revision to February's payroll employment data. Instead of losing 13,000 payrolls jobs in February, as preliminary data indicated last month, the state added 4,300 jobs.

Texas has added 32,500 jobs during the last six months, and the state unemployment rate remains well below the national average of 9.7 percent.

Texas loses 13,000 jobs in February; state unemployment holds steady at 8.2 percent

TWC reports January's small job gains wiped out in February. Brendan Case reports:

Texas employers trimmed non-farm payrolls by 13,000 jobs in February, the Texas Workforce Commission announced this morning. That erased a revised gain of 12,600 jobs in January (the preliminary figure for January, announced earlier this month, was a 14,800-job gain).

Job openings up sharply in January to 2.7M

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber reports on new employment figures.