Dallas

Majority of Texas Businesses Plan to Increase Employment: Survey

For the first time in the history of a biannual business survey put out by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, more than half of respondents said they planned to expand employment.

A recent survey of more than 350 Texas business executives, conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, shows that a majority of them are planning to increase employment over the next six to twelve months.

Of the 362 respondents to the Texas Business Outlook Surveys, 51.4 percent said they planned to increase employment, as opposed to leaving employment unchanged or decreasing employment.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has conducted this survey twice a year since 2011, and this is the first time more than half of the respondents indicated that they planned to add jobs.

“So this is great news for workers across the state, because it indicates that firms are looking to hire as the Texas economy has improved,” said Amy Jordan, an assistant economist with the Dallas Fed who manages the outlook survey.

The same set of questions has been asked to the same sample of 500 businesses over the past seven years, according to Jordan.

Although she cannot reveal the names of any of the respondents, Jordan said they range in size from one-person operations to multinational corporations headquartered in Texas.

“Something that I think is really important to take away from this survey is that we see, in different variables and economic indicators, that the Texas economy is improving,” Jordan said. “We are also hearing now from our respondents that, yes, they are indeed looking to increase employment to help support their continued growth. And so this is a great environment for people seeking jobs right now."

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