North Texas economic signs mixed
Bernard Weinstein, an economist and associate director of SMU's Maguire Energy Institute, talks about the economic outlook for North Texas.
By Bill Hethcock
Staff Writer
North Texas is on the path toward economic recovery, but don't expect a dramatic turnaround in 2011, a top economist said Tuesday at an Economic Outlook Forum for the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce.
Nationally, unemployment remains stubbornly high, although job creation in North Texas is picking up, said Bernard Weinstein, adjunct professor of Business Economics in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. U.S. unemployment stands at about 9.4 percent, while the rate in Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area is about 8.2 percent.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area added about 100,000 jobs per year from 2004 to 2007, then lost about 80,000 jobs over the next two years, Weinstein said.
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