The Texas economy is slowing while the average12-month inflation rate is rising, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
The Dallas Fed says the inflation rate it uses -- Trimmed Mean PCE -- was 4.7% in August, up from 4.5% in July.
It also said there are signs the state’s economy is slowing, adding in a press release that a “once torrid pace of job growth ground to a halt in August.”
Dallas Fed vice president and senior economist Pia Orrenius was more specific.
“July job growth, month over month, was 7.6% and then we went to zero in August,” Orrenius said. “It was kind of shocking.”
Orrenius also noted firms have been reluctant to raise prices. That could be a sign inflation is peaking.
Despite the Dallas Fed’s recently reduced job numbers, it still projects job growth to exceed 4% for the year. That’s twice the historical average.
In surveys, Texas businesses said they were expecting a more typical economy after last year’s rapid growth and rebound from the pandemic-induced recession. But that’s no longer the case, according to the Fed report.
Got a tip? Email Reporter Bill Zeeble at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on Twitter @bzeeble.