Houston weathering oil industry’s woes

by The Associated Press

A robust national economy and a rebound in Latin America are helping Houston successfully weather the energy industry’s woes, a prominent economist said May 11. Even the wounded oil and gas sector is consolidating in Houston, easing the pain of a sharp industry-wide contraction, said University of Houston economist Barton Smith.

“... Houston’s economy is stronger than we thought it would be,” said Smith, who raised his projection of 1999 job growth to 1.5 percent, up from 1.25 percent. Smith said a thriving U.S. economy and healthy trading partners in Latin America have blunted energy’s sting.

One reason mass oil layoffs aren’t clobbering Houston, the nation’s energy capital, is that companies are moving many operations there even as they shrink.

Smith cited government figures showing local energy employment is down just 5 percent from 1998 levels, compared with nearly 15 percent nationally, and that single-family and office real estate markets ought to stay healthy.