Economic Woes in Lone Star State

Just how bad did things get in Texas over the past three years. Here are a few highlights from a recent Texas Workforce Commission report:

* The Austin metro area lost 35,679 private industry jobs, nearly 6.7 percent of the region's total private work force, from the end of 2000 to the end of 2002. The total private industry wages paid in Travis, Caldwell, Hays, Williamson and Bastrop counties during the last quarter of 2002 were $772 million lower than in the final quarter of 2000, a 12.8 percent drop in the final 13 weeks of 2000 compared with the same period in 2002. (All dollar figures in this story have been adjusted for inflation to reflect their worth in the last quarter of 2002.)

* Dallas, the state's largest economy, lost 112,474 private industry jobs, a 6.4 percent decline, and $2.2 billion in private industry wages, a drop of 10.3 percent.

* Houston lost 3 percent of its private industry wages, a $616 million decline. San Antonio managed to tread water in terms of total private industry wages.

* In all cities, government employment offset some of the losses in the private sector, with gains mostly coming in the public schools. Still, even with large government job gains, Dallas and Austin lost both total wages and total jobs during 2000-2002.

* The Rio Grande Valley cities of McAllen and Brownsville gained jobs and total wages during the two-year period.

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