The shale drilling boom helped Texas lead the U.S. out of recession, but a new article says the state is a “sore spot” for the national economy.
It’s not a headline you might expect: “Texas, Once a Star, Becomes a Drag on the U.S. Economy.” It comes just as the Labor Department says applications for unemployment benefits were unchanged last week, staying at a 43-year low.
But what power does Texas have to pull down the U.S. economy as a whole? Erin Ailworth, reporter at the Wall Street Journal, says quite a bit.
“Texas actually counts for roughly 9 percent of U.S. economic output,” she says. “When it’s doing well, it can be a big boost for the national economy and when it’s not doing so hot, it can take things down a little bit.”
What you’ll hear in this segment:
– Are there still bright spots in the Texas economy?
– What the Texas economic landscape looks like right now
