Expected construction slowdowns will bring slower growth for retailers of building materials and hardware. Slowing down The Comptroller's economic forecast predicts a marked slowdown in job growth for the state's finance, insurance and real estate industries. While bank profits should remain high, employment growth will taper off due to continuing mergers, productivity gains from improved technology and a likely increase in short-term interest rates. Texas bank and savings institution employment will grow by 3.9 percent in 1999, but will decline by about 1 percent in 2000 and remain flat for 2001. Texas real estate and finance companies, such as investment firms, also had exceptionally strong years in 1997 and 1998.
Continued growth depends on mortgage interest rates and the stock market.
Insurance, relying principally on simple population growth, will remain relatively stable, with employment growth averaging 1.2 percent annually through 2001. More jobs Services will prove to be the biggest engine of Texas job growth in 1999, with major gains in business, repair and engineering services. Such companies added 77,000 jobs in 1998, nearly a quarter of the state total, and will do almost as well over each of the next three years, growing at about 6 percent to 7 percent annually. This resilient combination of industries, including such dynamic sectors as temporary employment services, is well poised to continue to prosper through shifts in the economy. Health services will lag behind business, repair and engineering due to cost-containment measures, but will add jobs at a rate of about 3 percent annually.