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Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership supports the Port of Houston's Partners in Maritime Education "Computers for College 2013" campaign that will provide eligible graduating seniors with a laptop. Texas has become the envy of every state in the nation as its low unemployment rates and business friendly environment attract more businesses, more jobs, and highly qualified people to fill those jobs. The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is the state agency charged with overseeing and providing workforce development services to employers and job seekers of Texas. It does so in the Houston-Galveston region in partnership with the Gulf Coast Workforce Board-Workforce Solutions, neither of which gets the credit it deserves.
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Klineberg, Hodgin speak of sociological, economic trends in state and nation
The Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership held its Fourth Annual State of the Economy general membership meeting on February 14, 2011. Noted sociologist Stephen Klineberg, Ph.D., co-director of Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, and well-known economist Robert F. Hodgin, Ph.D., University of Houston Clear Lake, spoke to the large luncheon gathering about trends in Texas, Houston, and the nation.
Klineberg stated, “The source of wealth for Houston will have less and less to do with natural resources like oil and more and more to do with human resources where we have to nurture and attract the best and the brightest people in America.” He explained that the blue collar jobs of Houston in the 70s have disappeared and are gone forever, adding “Now education is essential in a way that it was never true before in Houston or America in all of our history.”
In his concluding statements, Klineberg said, “There has been a fundamental and irreversible transformation to the ethnic composition of the Texas, Houston, and American population which can be seen nowhere more clearly than in Houston. The United States is becoming a microcosm of the world. By 2040 the entire population of the United States will be majority minority. The American future is here in Houston now.”
Hodgin cautiously optimistic
Hodgin had cautiously optimistic news for the BAHEP members. He noted that the U.S. economy is well into the recovery phase of the business cycle. The Clear Lake region, Houston and Texas all show up-turns in activity with total employment and total spending rising. Hodgin added that the double dip recession threat is gone along with that of deflation.
According to this frequently-quoted economist, both the recovery and future growth appear to be sustainable. The household savings rate has returned to historical levels at 6-7 percent per year, and “pay down” on consumer debt has stabilized. Both foretell strong consumer spending and business investment. Hodgin related that Texas’ gross state product closely tracks the U.S. percentage change in gross domestic product; therefore, state tax revenues and overall employment should improve nicely.
Recovery to take longer
All is not positive on the economic front, however. Hodgin believes that the recovery will take two or three more years. Home foreclosures and the federal debt issue will continue, but he was clear that there should not be any large tax increases or major spending cuts until 2013. In regard to Texas, Hodgin recognized that the constitutional need to balance the state’s budget calls for state spending restraint and fee/tax increases. He declared that the budget concern is not the crisis that those in Austin claim it to be.
Hodgin concluded his presentation stating that the number one U.S. goal is to reach and sustain a growth rate of 3.5 percent per year to absorb job seekers and to moderate, but not totally resolve, the federal debt quandary.
