Greater Houston Partnership Revises Job Forecast

HOUSTON – The Greater Houston Partnership has revised its annual job growth forecast for 2015, issuing a prediction that the Houston area will gain only 20,000 to 30,000 new jobs this year. At the end of 2014, the Partnership had predicted 62,900 new jobs for 2015.

In explanation of his downward revision, the partnership’s economist Patrick Jankowski said the North American rig count had dropped by 1,000 rigs, instead of the anticipated 500 rigs and energy companies had slashed exploration budgets deeper than expected.

However, the Partnership has been known to be off-target with its forecast. It had predicted 69,800 for 2014, far short of the 107,400 jobs Houston actually gained in last year.

Marcus & Millichap predicted Houston will gain 50,000 new jobs in 2015, a reasonable forecast that is likely to be fairly accurate.  (Editor’s note: Marcus & Millichap has been accurate in the past and Realty News Report is in agreement with its 2015 job forecast for Houston.)