Audio By Carbonatix
First, the good news. The Dallas Fed’s most recent economic numbers show that Texas’ economy is growing. That growth is moderate, 2.4 percent for the year, but it’s better than in the country as a whole. Energy is booming; so is construction. Even the government sector is expanding slightly, in a state whose governor wants to eliminate so many departments he can’t even remember them all.
There is, however, one black spot marring the otherwise encouraging economic picture, as the Fed pointed out via Twitter:
That’s right. Texas would be booming if it weren’t for the information sector. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this includes the publishing industry, telecom, data processing, web search portals, and information services. But, for shorthand, we’ll call it journalists.
Will you step up to support Dallas Observer this year?
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If the Dallas Observer matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
“Employment in this sector is in structural decline due to technological change,” said Pia Orrenius, senior vice president and senior economist at the Dallas Fed. “Output is rising but employment is falling, which means the productivity gains are large.”
In other words, all of our friends are getting laid off and we’re all going to lose our jobs eventually, but in the meantime we’re producing like crazy, making that hamster wheel smoke. We would dig deeper into these numbers, but a new press release just came in, and we have a few more posts to knock out before the weekend comes.
