By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – A new survey was implemented this year to help us get a pulse on just what Texas Business Leaders are thinking and seeing in their own industry. It's a confidence survey and you might be mildly surprised to hear how confident or not these Business Leaders are. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
Compass Bank, together with the Mays Business School at Texas A&M, began a quarterly survey titled Texas Business Leaders Confidence Index. Jim Leigh, Associate Professor at A&M, informed me that this survey is given to 660 panelists consisting of either CEO's or at least top management. The goal is to get a cross-section of companies varying in industry, size, and location. The survey is completed the last week of a quarter. The seven questions are formed to project what these leaders are anticipating for the following quarter. There are two sub-components: comparisons to the last quarter, and comparisons to the same time last year. For our purposes today, we will strictly look at the comparison to the last second quarter.
The overall Texas Business Leaders Confidence Index was 57. The range is 0 to 100, with 50 being neutral. The analysts of this survey call this "mildly positive" for the third quarter. I specifically asked Leigh about the Metroplex. Dallas Business leaders averaged 54 while the execs in Fort Worth/Arlington were more optimistic at 58.
Now I need to tell you - Dr. Leigh told me that throughout the whole survey, Dallas and Austin were less positive then the rest of the state. Over half expect an increase in the state economy because industries in Texas are much more diversified than a decade ago. As for industry hiring plans, something we're all concerned about, 30% expect an increase from last quarter, while over half expect no change and 15% expect a decrease.
This young survey is in the process of growing, as is the outlook for the state economy. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.