Economic Development

Saying they're stung by losing jobs to Texas, a group of California legislators will begin its self-proclaimed "fact-finding" mission to Austin on Thursday.

The trip was organized by state Assemblyman Dan Logue, a Republican from Linda, Calif., who hosted a similar trip to Nevada two years ago.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas economists said Thursday that Texas could add 261,000 to 374,000 jobs this year, growing between 2.5 and 3.5 percent, based on movements in leading indicators. At that pace -- Texas jobs are already growing about 2.5 percent annually -- the state's unemployment rate could drop to 7 percent by year's end, economists Keith Phillips and Emily Kerr said in the bank's latest edition of Southwest Economy.

Separately, the Texas Workforce Commission said the state added 44,100 jobs in January from a month earlier, moving to just under 10.5 million. The growth was led by trade, transportation and utilities.

Texas claimed 424 business expansion projects in 2010, enough to win the Site Selection Governor's Cup for the year, Site Selection magazine said Tuesday.

Texas' 2010 count for new and expanded corporate facilities was 50 percent larger than the number it recorded in 2009 and beat Ohio, the second-place finisher in 2010, by 48 projects.

Texas factory activity picked up in February after a sluggish showing the previous month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said Monday.

The production index of the Dallas Fed’s monthly manufacturing survey rose to nearly 10, suggesting expansion.

Four Texas metropolitan areas — Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio — dominate the top 15 U.S. cities in a global study to determine the level of cities' recovery from the recession.

The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program report ranks 150 cities: 50 in the United States, 50 in Europe and 50 in the rest of the world. Austin was the highest-ranked U.S. city and No. 26 in the world. Dallas ranks as the No. 4 U.S. city and No. 39 in the world. San Antonio ranks No. 11 in the U.S. and No. 51 in the world.

Houston is ranked No. 15 in the U.S. and No. 61 in the world, according to the report, Global MetroMonitor, which received assistance from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

San Antonio, Houston and Dallas rose in global rankings during the past two years from their pre-recession rankings. Austin stayed about the same, ranking No. 25 among the 150 metro areas before the recession.

The report found that income and job growth in metro areas exceed those of their nations as a whole, which means large cities are leading the global recovery from the 2007-09 recession.

Where can you go to escape the recession? Try any of these 10 places. Oh, and be prepared to wear red.

Like a massive tornado, the Great Recession up-ended the topography of America. But even as vast parts of the country were laid low, some cities withstood the storm and could emerge even stronger and shinier than before. So, where exactly are these Oz-like destinations along the road to recovery? If you said Kansas, you're not far off. Try Oklahoma. Or Texas. Or Iowa. Not only did the economic twister of the last two years largely spare Tornado Alley, it actually may have helped improve the landscape.

NEWSWEEK has compiled a list of the 10 American cities best situated for the recovery. These are places where the jobs are plentiful, and the pay, given the lower cost of living, buys more than in bigger cities. In other words, places unlike much of the rest of the country. The cities, most of which lie in the red-state territory of America’s heartland, fall into three basic groups. There's the Texaplex—Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston—which has become the No. 1 destination for job-seeking Americans, thanks to a hearty energy sector and a strong spirit of entrepreneurism. There are the New Silicon Valleys—Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Salt Lake City; and urban northern Virginia—which offer high-paying high-tech jobs and housing prices well below those in coastal California. And then there are the Heartland Honeys—Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, and Des Moines, Iowa—which are enjoying a revival thanks to rising agricultural prices and a shift toward high-end industrial jobs.