According to Ted C. Jones, senior vice president and senior economist at Stewart Title Guaranty Co., Houston has more jobs available than ever in the city’s history.
In Tuesday’s second bi-annual symposium, “Houston 2012-2013: A Sparkling Diamond of Many Facets – Medical, Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, the Port… A Real Estate and Economic Outlook,” Jones highlighted Houston’s relatively prosperous economy.
The presentation by Jones, keynote speaker at the Bauer College of Business’s Institute for Regional Forecasting, predicted the creation of 80,000 new jobs in Houston throughout the next year because of the booming medical, shipping, real estate and energy industries in the area.
The amount of industry in Houston is the highest its been in a decade.
The symposium series has been a staple event of the IRF since 1979 and local business leaders rely on it for independent and objective economic projections for Houston, according to Latha Ramchand, dean of the C.T. Bauer College of Business.
“At the University of Houston and at the business school, we strongly believe we need to stay connected and engaged to the business community and today’s symposium is a good example of that,” Ramchand.
“When you’re forecasting, you’re looking at how your business is going to be for the next year and you’re looking to experts for advice. The more you know, the better you’re budgeting is going to be and the more accurate your business will be in forecasting profits.”
This was the first time the IRF hosted the event at Bauer, Ramchand said.
More than 700 people were in attendance. Muoy Kuon, an attendee and city employee, was eager to hear how Houston has overcome the financial woes that have burdened the rest of the country.
“This is my first time attending and it was very exciting. I thought it was an enlightening view of what’s going on from a business perspective. I also wasn’t aware of the impact that so many factors, such as Europe and the elections, could have on our economy,” Kuon said.
While an increase in economic growth in Houston is expected, the early 2013 growth could be flat because of the current turmoil of international markets, said Bill Gillmer, executive director of the IRF.
“With the trials and tribulations going on in Europe, Europe is having a greater effect not on us, but in Asia, and now Asia is having an effect on us,” Gillmer said. “We are a world community today and we need to understand that.”
