Although no one can predict the future, economists certainly try. Thankfully their methods are more reliable than the average crystal ball. Taking recent data and extending it’s effects over a given period of time, barring any financial or real estate catastrophes, these individuals are able to come up with a rough estimate for the economic future of a city.
According to Waco economist M. Ray Perryman, approximately 85,400 jobs in San Antonio will be created within the next five years. At this time there are 899,500 jobs in the city. Perryman’s report states that, based on economic projections, 984,900 San Antonio jobs should exist by 2012, which shows a compound annual growth rate of 1.83 percent. Currently San Antonio’s unemployment rate is below the national and state average, with only 3.6 percent of the city’s residents not working.
The San Antonio metropolitan area’s population is expected to increase from 1.9 million to 2.2 million over the next five years, which is a growth rate of 2.05 percent. This means that the new jobs expected will not be at a loss for employees.
At this time the major industry sectors an percentage of local jobs each contributes to the local economy are services, which employees 27.64 percent of the population, finance, insurance and real estate, employing 16.24 percent of residents, government, 15.27 percent, and trade, 14.12 percent. These industries are expected to continue to contribute more than 73 percent of the area’s economic output.
Perryman gave these predictions at the Petrol club on December 13th, where he attended his 24th Annual Perryman Economic Outlook Conference. Hosting the event was the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Amegy Bank of Texas sponsored the conference.
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