Jobs have not come streaming rapidly into Dallas overnight and Dallas has lagged other major U.S. cities in wage growth. In a report from Pay Scale, Inc. Dallas wages grew only 0.7% IN 2011. It’s true that Dallas is still below job growth levels of 2009 with only .01% in 2011 compared to Houston’s 2.2 %. However, there are some who see opportunities edging their way up for 2012. “This year could be better” says Keith Phillips, an economist with the Dallas Federal Reserve. He predicts increased job growth of 2% for Dallas-Fort Worth this year. In a recent economic article “Cities with the most new construction” from Forbes, Texas is seeing a surge in new construction with Dallas seeing a growth of 9.5 billion in new construction last year and is expected to see a 9% increase in 2012. The economic climate is still less than robust all across the nation but there is still good news in Dallas these days.
With the nation still struggling since the economic crisis, all is not lost in Dallas. On the bright side, job growth increased at a rather steady pace in 2011 and in the first quarter of 2012. Unemployment came in at 8.3% in January 2011 and has lowered in 2012 to 7.4% Texas as a state placed second best in the country with more than 15,000 new jobs only last September. As a nice addition to positive job growth, the Texas GDP is nominally above the national average. This has encouraged businesses to take root in the Dallas area and more of the unemployed are returning to the job market.
Some of the largest numbers of employment opportunities came from finance, mining, banking, natural resources, hospitality, tourism, government, defense, technology, telecoms, education and medical. Some specific jobs titles on offer in Dallas include the following: Petroleum engineers, network & data analysts, financial examiners, special education teachers, compliance officers, medical assistants, retail and physical therapists.
Jobs are hard to come by in almost every major US city but this year job seekers will have a better chance in Dallas than in almost all other cities. Dallas is one of the few US cities with a more stable and diverse economy.
