Economic Growth in Austin/Central Texas Continues

I just posted on www.AustinMarketInfo.com a round-up of good news from recent days in the Austin Business Journal:

UT, ATI and city open lab for entrepreneurs

Google Ventures invests in HomeAway

Pain Therapeutics moving HQ to Austin

Pflugerville scooter company pushing product nationally

SolarWinds income rises to $12.2M

For many years the Austin area has been home to innovative ventures, and attractive to existing firms looking for a dynamic city for expansion.    I have pointed out many times, Austin has avoided the worst effects of the recession.  Courtesy of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, here is how Austin employment growth has fared over the past several years:

Not only have we remained far better off than the United States as a whole, but than Texas as well, and it has been well documented that Texas has remained much healthier economically than the rest of the country.  Even more importantly, note that Austin’s job growth was still positive in 2009, when Texas and the U.S. were losing jobs.  On a percentage basis, the Austin MSA experienced the fastest job growth of any major metropolitan area from August 2009 to August 2010.

In this recession, maybe more than all others, it is important to recognize that “it ain’t over ’til it’s over.”  That said, we still have the climate, the culture, the tax structure, the entrepreneurial dynamism, and the activity of a growth-oriented Chamber of Commerce that has made the Austin area so attractive and successful.  The articles above, and many others like them, are reasons for continued optimism for our area as the economy at large turns from recession to recovery.