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Opinion

The Texas economic comeback is on

Richard Fisher and James Huffines: Jobs, vaccinations and corporate relocations are on the rise.

Everyone loves a good comeback story, and Texas is writing one for the ages.

The Lone Star State has long been synonymous with economic prosperity and opportunity, but not even Texas could avoid the damage that the COVID-19 pandemic caused for economies across the U.S. and around the world. However, thanks to the perseverance of Texans and the steady hand of Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas is now poised for a major economic comeback. In fact, it is already happening.

But to see where we’re going, we must first look at where we’ve been. One year ago this month, Gov. Abbott launched the Strike Force to Open Texas which brought together medical experts and leaders from the public and private sector to provide guidance on how to reopen Texas. As members of this strike force, we worked closely with the governor last summer to develop strategies that protect public health while also safely opening the economy for Texas families. That included incrementally, but deliberately, opening the Texas economy and providing businesses with public health guidelines to keep their employees and customers safer.

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As a result of the governor’s leadership and the incredible work by employers across Texas, our state endured far fewer job losses than any large state in America, including California, Florida and New York.

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Even with the pandemic, Texas saw major investments from companies like Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle and Charles Schwab, all of which announced they are moving their headquarters to Texas. And it’s not just the big cities. In fact, earlier this month Great Lakes Cheese announced a $185 million capital investment and 500 new jobs in Abilene, the largest capital investment the city has seen in decades.

Now, with Texas open 100% and with more vaccines being administered every day, the Texas economy is on the rise again. According to data from the Texas Workforce Commission, Texas employers added nearly 100,000 new jobs in March alone. And since COVID-related job losses peaked in April 2020, Texas has added back nearly 1 million jobs.

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That’s just the beginning. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas predicts a meteoric rise in employment — projecting that Texas will add a total of 816,400 new jobs by the end of 2021.

Drill further down into the data, and you’ll see that Texas is seeing incredible growth across economic sectors.

Let’s look at the oil and gas industry, which was hit hard by the pandemic and is vital to the overall economic success of the state. The Dallas Fed has said that the outlook for the oil and gas sector has dramatically improved as of late, citing increased business activity. They also point to the fact that for the first time in two years more firms have increased employment than have cut jobs.

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It’s not just the oil and gas sector. Other industries are seeing significant growth.

In its most recent monthly survey, the Dallas Fed found that activity in Texas’ manufacturing sector is at its highest level in the 17-year history of the survey. In March, activity in the services sector, which includes businesses like restaurants, increased at its fastest pace since the middle of 2019. And retail sales in Texas are now at a six-month high and growing.

Although we’re not out of the woods yet, it is clear that the Texas economic comeback grows stronger by the day. This is a testament to Texans’ resilience and the strong economic environment that has been cultivated across the state. And with Abbott’s leadership, our unmatched workforce, and strong business communities across the state, Texas will continue to blaze a trail to a more prosperous future.

Richard Fisher was chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 2005-2015.

James Huffines was chairman of Abbott’s Strike Force to Open Texas and is a former chairman of the University of Texas System Board of Regents.

They wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.

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