If there was ever any doubt how much Houston depends on oil... (Fort Worth: real estate, buying)

[Scientific]

Originally Posted by Sugarlandbubba

With so many energy related buildings on the sublease market, I believe energy companies which do not have a presence or their headquarters in Houston will move to here while the rent is cheap.

Why isnt that the case right now then?

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by Scientific

Why isnt that the case right now then?

It is...

Energy companies ride out crude slump by doubling down in Houston
The global crude slump battering oil towns across the country has created a paradoxical effect in Houston, home to more than 3,700 energy companies, including some of the world's largest. While the city has lost thousands of oil and gas jobs since oil prices collapsed by half over the past year, its energy capital status makes it a logical place for companies to consolidate operations as they shutter farflung plants and offices to save money.
That means scores of workers and their families are moving to the area. "When you ride out the storm, you ride it out on high ground, and in the energy industry, Houston is the highest ground of all," said Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research at the Greater Houston Partnership.
New research funded in part by the U.S. Department of Commerce suggests that regions known as bastions for specific industries finance in New York, for example, or movie production in Hollywood tend to be more resilient in tough times. The researchers, who called such areas cluster cities, studied how they fared from 2003 to 2011 a period that included a major economic slump. According to an incomplete preliminary report released in May, the research showed that such areas were less vulnerable to economic shocks and recovered faster.
For energy companies looking to cut costs, Houston remains the most attractive place to consolidate operations because of its robust network of companies across the oil and gas chain from firms that drill and produce to plants that manufacture equipment used in the oil patch, said Bill Gilmer, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston.

Energy companies ride out crude slump by doubling down in Houston That article is dated Oct 2015

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/n...o-houston.html

TransCanada closes on Houston’s Columbia Pipeline Group | Fuel Fix

[cBach]

This is interesting and I wonder is this is why Houston gained 5,000 jobs instead of losing them. So yes there are layoffs and yes Houston is affected but other places are affected worse (Tulsa or Midland for instance) and Houston scavenges the scraps left after the slaughter in those towns.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by cBach

This is interesting and I wonder is this is why Houston gained 5,000 jobs instead of losing them. So yes there are layoffs and yes Houston is affected but other places are affected worse (Tulsa or Midland for instance) and Houston scavenges the scraps left after the slaughter in those towns.

It's not "scavenging" Those jobs in "Tulsa and Midland" were created by the industry core in Houston in the first place.

I think this could very well explain how the areas population is still growing as rapidly as it has been without any real reported job growth. I don't think when these people are transferred or relocated it is counted as job creation since the jobs were already existing.

new employment figures are out and the July YOY job growth numbers are 13,300 which means as many as 8,000 jobs were created in Greater Houston last month alone, many of them were in professional business services ,

"Employment grew slightly in Greater Houston over the past year as moderating job losses in oil and gas were offset by gains in services such as health care, hotels and restaurants, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Overall, the metropolitan area gained 13,300 jobs over the 12 month period that ended in July, an annual growth of 0.4 percent — an improvement from June’s year-over-year increase of 0.2 percent and better than analysts expected. Drilling activity has increased modestly in Texas, following a rebound in oil prices, and many oil company executives have suggested that the worst is over, after reporting abysmal earnings in the quarter that ended in June."

"Analysts noted other hints of improvement in the Houston area. Professional and business services, which has shed 2.3 percent of jobs over the year, experienced noticeable gains in July. That included
an increase in architectural and engineering jobs, which can foreshadow gains in construction and population growth."

PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News

[chris_ut]

Originally Posted by cBach

This is interesting and I wonder is this is why Houston gained 5,000 jobs instead of losing them. So yes there are layoffs and yes Houston is affected but other places are affected worse (Tulsa or Midland for instance) and Houston scavenges the scraps left after the slaughter in those towns.

Midland is actually doing fairly well since the Permian is one of the few areas that is still seeing a lot of capital investment. Its mostly the field offices that took the brunt of it so smaller towns are affected more, probably the town worst hit on a per capita basis by headquarter layoffs would be Oklahoma City.

[Mezter]

Oh wow! That's astounding

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by Mezter

Oh wow! That's astounding

In which way is that "astounding" ?

[cBach]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

Midland is actually doing fairly well since the Permian is one of the few areas that is still seeing a lot of capital investment. Its mostly the field offices that took the brunt of it so smaller towns are affected more, probably the town worst hit on a per capita basis by headquarter layoffs would be Oklahoma City.

source?

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

No one is getting it worse than North Dakota....

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

Midland is actually doing fairly well since the Permian is one of the few areas that is still seeing a lot of capital investment. Its mostly the field offices that took the brunt of it so smaller towns are affected more, probably the town worst hit on a per capita basis by headquarter layoffs would be Oklahoma City.

Still negative job growth in Midland though, along with the Dakotas. And yeah, OKC was hit hard l along with Tulsa.