TYLER (TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH) - The Tyler area ranked No. 2 in a national employment study.
The report was conducted by RCLCO (Robert Charles Lesser & Co.), an independent real estate advisory firm based in Washington D.C. and has offices in Austin, Los Angeles and Orlando.
Tyler ranked second only to Bismarck, N.D. for the Top 15 small metro areas that have employment bases of less than 100,000. Longview ranked No. 3 in the list that also included Midland at No. 5.
"Diversified employment bases, including energy and technology sectors, are benefiting the Texas economy as are low cost of doing business, warm climate and proximity to trading routes," Paige Mueller, managing director of RCLCO, said in the report.
She said many areas of Texas are at peak employment levels – particularly those that have high levels of energy and health care jobs.
Three large metro areas in Texas, with employment bases of 800,000 or more, came out on top. They include Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos in the No. 1 spot; Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ranked third and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown came in ninth.
No Texas cities came in the Top 15 list of midsize metro areas, with employment bases in the 100,000 to 800,000 range.
"As economic growth is a precursor for real estate demand and new home sales, we set out to find which metro areas are expected to have the strongest economies in the next year," Ms. Mueller said of the study. "We ranked more than 300 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas based on economic strength as measured by current and forecast job growth, income levels and ratios of the working population to the total population."
Top-ranking metro areas are expected to have strong economic growth prospects in the upcoming year, driven by positive job growth, a growing working population and high incomes.
"As is typical during economic recoveries, growth is returning in a disparate pattern across the country," Ms. Mueller said in her report. "While job losses occurred in a broad swath of industries during the 2008-09 downturn, including both goods-producing industries and service-oriented industries, the service sector has dominated the recovery."
The full report can be seen at www.rclco.com.
