Houston's financial future is looking bright

(1/05/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- Houston has a bright outlook -- more jobs, higher pay, and even a growing sector of minority owned businesses. The mayor is calling it unprecedented.

But it's where the growth is happening that's unexpected. New statistics released Thursday afternoon show there are over 40,000 new jobs in Houston. Positions that are not concentrated in one industry.

Over the past holidays people were eager to spend their money. That's a direct result, says banking experts, of a fast employment growth rate in Houston. At 1.8%, job growth is at the fastest rate since 2001 -- translating to over 40,000 new jobs.

"We've held the line on property taxes," said Mayor Bill White. "We've had two property tax decreases so the cost of doing business in the city is very affordable as compared to our competitor cities."

Despite catastrophic hurricanes, the city's economy has shown progress in small and medium size businesses. City officials say housing the tens of thousands of evacuees have resulted in a boom for apartment and office buildings. .

A poll of over 1,000 small and medium sized businesses show Houston outperforming national growth rates. There's in increase in capital spending, salaries and expected growth.

But the biggest jump is in compensation. In Houston, average commissions among small and medium size companies are at 9.6% compared to 7.6% nationwide. And overtime time pay locally is way up. At 15.7% compared to 9.8% nationally.

Growth among local minority businesses is also booming. Banking experts say the economy growth has changed dramatically over the last few years.

"We saw very few minority businesses applying for loans, much less qualifying for loans," said Jay Rogers with IBC Bank. "Now what we're seeing is people coming in who actually built their businesses and are borrowing money based on the success of their business."

There's also been growth in Mexico-based companies. The mayor says there are at least 60 Mexican firms with principal offices here in Houston.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)

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