| The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in conjunction with the Texas Workforce Commission, released their re-benchmarked Houston employment numbers on Thursday. The new numbers show that Houston gained almost 100,000 jobs in 2007, up from the original estimate of approximately 60,000 jobs. This upward revision was about 15,000 jobs more than we expected. Unfortunately, the revised data were not complete and month-to-month detail has still not been released. As a consequence, we still can’t tell whether the rate of growth was slowing down somewhat in the second half of the year. Nonetheless, the information released does indicate two positive aspects of Houston’s growth. Last year’s growth was nearly as strong as 2006, and energy sectors, which appeared to be slowing in the pre-revised data, seem to be as strong as ever. This latter finding is particularly important in keeping the regional economy’s head above water as the nation’s economic woes worsen. |