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Lone Star State Leads11-16-10 | News

Lone Star State Leads

Texas employers have added nearly 146,000 jobs in 2010, after cutting more than 350,000 jobs in 2009. The state is "No. 1 in many, many indicators, certainly No. 1 among the largest states,?EUR??,,????'?????< Image: The Texas state capitol in Austin

Texas is projected to be the nation's economic growth leader over the next decade, according to the Lexington, Mass.-based research and forecasting firm IHS Global Insight.

Payroll employment in Texas is expected to increase 1.8 percent in 2011, putting the Lone Star State in a ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Texas is also projected to see 2.2 percent annual job growth rate between 2010 and 2016, which puts it tied for first with Idaho in that category, according to the firm.

"This is the decade in relative economic terms where Texas really dominates the U.S. economy," said Jim Diffley at an economic outlook conference Nov. 10 in Austin. Diffley tracks U.S. regional economies for IHS Global Insight.

Diffley said the reasons Texas is likely to outperform the national economy in the coming years is because of its relatively mild housing bust, diversified economy and competitive business costs. Still, it will take years for job growth to dent Texas?EUR??,,????'?????<

Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, really put a damper on the conference with a curious proclamation you wouldn?EUR??,,????'?????<

Gary Preuss, an economist at the Texas comptroller's office who attended the conference, said the comptroller?EUR??,,????'?????<

"It will come down, but it will come down slowly," Preuss said, the reason being the labor force is growing almost as quickly as the number of jobs.