The U.S. is now a net exporter of oil
For the first time in decades, the U.S. is a net exporter of oil. As the world’s top oil producer and consumer, the U.S. exported 89,000 more barrels of crude and other petroleum products a day than it imported in September. September represented the first full month of the U.S. being a net exporter of oil since the 1940s, according to the Energy Information Administration. The U.S. ended the crude export ban that was implemented in the 1970s in 2015.

Natural gas—a cyclical business—currently at the bottom of the cycle
Plentiful natural gas has changed the manufacturing industry in this country like nothing else in the last decade. It has made the U.S. so competitive in the manufacturing arena that the sector added over 1 million jobs over the last 10 years for the first time in decades. While natural gas continues to take market share from coal to supply electric power plants, the gas industry is going bust. There is currently a glut of the fuel. Miners are shutting down rigs and Chevron, the nation’s second largest oil and gas player, announced in December it is writing off $10 billion to $11 billion in shale gas holdings and a planned LNG export facility in Canada. The number of gas rigs nationwide has slipped from 184 last year to 132 in December 2019.

Major cuts in immigration threaten U.S. economy
According to new data, legal immigration to the United States fell 70 percent last year to only 200,000 people—the lowest level in over a decade. H-1B visas have been held up by the tens of thousands, and the White House announced in October it will accept only 18,000 refugees in the coming year, down from the 110,000 people that President Obama said should be allowed into the U.S. in 2016. The U.S. has averaged about 1 million legal immigrants each year over the last 10 years. So, why do cuts in legal immigration threaten the national economy? In 2018, on average per day, 10,200 people retired in the U.S. However, only 2,230 people turned working age (16) per day, meaning we are potentially losing 8,000 people a day in the workforce.

The furniture industry is coming back in the South, but there are not enough workers
In December, The Wall Street Journal published an article which stated that furniture makers like Crate & Barrel, Ashley Furniture and Williams-Sonoma are expanding manufacturing capacity in the U.S., and that factories of furniture manufacturers are “humming.” That is true in many of the historical furniture manufacturing states such as Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia. We have recently seen more furniture projects than at any time since the 1990s, when many of them beelined to China. But the article also said that there are not enough skilled workers to support the “renaissance.” Upholsterers and sewers lost thousands of jobs, meaning there were few who trained for the furniture industry since it collapsed, leaving it reliant on an “aging workforce.”

It’s never been done before in this country
For the first time in the nation’s history, the U.S. will go more than 10 years without a recession. Records kept before the Civil War show that a recession has occurred at least once every 10 years. The last one was particularly difficult as the U.S. economy fell into recession from December 2007 to June of 2009. 

Five Southern states make ranking for “Best Positioned States for a Recession”
Five Southern states made FitSmallBusiness’ top 10 states best positioned for a possible recession. They were Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Other states making the ranking were Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and North Dakota. States with a wide variety of businesses, diverse global trade partners and a robust debt-to-income ratio were in the best position to withstand a recession.

Singapore replaces U.S. as world’s most competitive economy
The economy of Singapore has overtaken the U.S. economy as the world’s most competitive according the World Economic Forum’s annual competitiveness report. The index, published in the fall quarter, takes stock of an economy’s competitive landscape, measuring factors such as macroeconomic stability, infrastructure, the labor market and innovation capability. The United States fell to No. 2.

Tax cuts make U.S. tax burden one of the lowest in the world
President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts have reduced the U.S. tax burden to the lowest among major developed nations, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The tax cuts have also contributed to the U.S. government’s budget deficit of nearly $1 trillion in 2019. The deficit rose by $205 billion, or 26 percent in the last year. Only three of the major world economies currently have a lower tax burden than the U.S.

Houston’s economy is contracting
Houston’s economy contracted in November, according to the Houston Purchasing Manager’s index. It’s the first time the area economy has contracted since Hurricane Harvey struck the region in August of 2017 causing $130 billion in damage.

Houston MSA leads the nation in residential building permits
The MSA that includes Houston-Sugar Land-The Woodlands continues to lead the nation in both multifamily and single-family residential unit permits. The Houston region saw 36,073 permits issued from July 2018 to July 2019, the largest number in the country and nearly 20 times the 1,843 permits issued in the average metro area. Dallas-Fort Worth came in second with 34,523 residential building permits.

Houston home to more than 30 wind energy companies 
The Houston MSA is involved in a big way in the wind energy industry. Companies include wind farm development firms, blade inspection and maintenance, lubricant manufacturers and other sectors that support wind energy. Texas produces 20 percent of its power from wind energy and almost 25,000 people work in the sector in the Lone Star State.

Wind energy milestone
Wind energy in the U.S. reached a milestone in the fall quarter. Installed wind energy capacity passed 100 gigawatts in November. One gigawatt provides enough power for 700,000 homes. Texas has the most wind energy capacity with 27 gigawatts, according to the Energy Department. It is expected that by the end of 2020, wind will provide 122 gigawatts of energy in the U.S.

Millions of job openings, not enough workers
Labor shortages are making it tough on employers in almost every state, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The shortage of workers is jeopardizing economic expansion nationwide. States are offering financial incentives to bring natives back to their state to work and raise families. States are also digging deep, trying to find those who have quit looking for job—high school dropouts and those with criminal records.

CNBC poll says 60 percent of CFOs predict headcount reductions
The fourth quarter 2019 CNBC Global CFO Council survey came out in the fall and 60 percent of CFOs polled said they will be cutting jobs and slowing hiring in 2020, even with the blowout report of 266,000 new jobs created in November.

Tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs lost in political battleground states so far this year
NBC News reported in October that Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin lost a total of 27,000 manufacturing jobs from January through September of 2019. The job losses come in states Trump narrowly won in 2016 and are widely seen as battleground states in the 2020 election.

City revenues see signs of recession
According to the National League of Cities, shrinking revenue sources are putting pressure on municipal budgets. The report also stated that almost two in three finance officers in large cities are predicting a recession as soon as 2020. One of the first signs of changing economic conditions can be seen in city revenue collections. For the first time in seven years, cities expect revenues to decline as they close the books on the 2019 fiscal year. Changing economic conditions are felt by cities sooner than at the state or national level.

Winston-Salem, N.C., creating more jobs than its peers
Over the last two years, Winston-Salem is creating jobs at a pace that is besting its peers. From August 2017 to August 2019, the city of Winston-Salem has seen a 3.9 percent gain in jobs. That’s a higher percentage than Greenville, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. Winston-Salem’s Mayor Allen Joines said this fall that the city goal is to create 5,400 new jobs a year. The new data shows that they’ve created 10,500 new jobs in the past two years. “We want to continue to hit that 5,400 new jobs for the next three years, and in doing so we will become one of the top 50 metro areas in the country in the terms of job growth,” Joines said in a story published by WFMY.

Florida still cranking out the jobs
Florida’s three largest metro areas saw strong job growth from October 2018 to October 2019. Orlando, with 48,400 new jobs, ranked first in year-over-year job gains. Miami saw 29,100 new jobs and Tampa Bay created 27,000 new jobs. Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Gainesville saw the lowest metro unemployment rates in the state in October.

SmartAsset publishes “boomtown” ranking
Several Southern cities made SmartAsset’s boomtown ranking that came out in December. Longmont, Colo., was named No. 1, but Denton, Texas; Mount Pleasant, S.C.; Miami; New Braunfels, Texas; Charleston, S.C.; North Charleston, S.C.; and Round Rock, Texas all made the top 10 in the South. The other two were in Colorado.

Northern Alabama could see 25,000 new jobs
The Northern Alabama counties of Limestone, Madison and Morgan could see 25,000 new jobs at  the same time the Huntsville region is seeing record unemployment rates. Mazda Toyota will open its $1.6 billion joint assembly plant in Huntsville in 2021.

Montgomery, Ala., sees record breaking numbers
Montgomery saw $1 billion in industrial capital investments in 2019, the second largest total ever for Montgomery County. It was surpassed only in 2002, when Hyundai announced its plant there. A total of 31 companies announced projects in Montgomery in 2019, which created 1,214 new jobs and retained 7,784 jobs.

Alabama unemployment rate at all-time low of 2.8 percent
Alabama’s unemployment rate in October was at 2.8 percent, an all-time low. The unemployment rate in August was 3.1 percent. The civilian labor force also grew to 2,261,077, which is a new high. It’s the ninth consecutive month in which Alabama’s job growth percentage either sustained or exceeded the national job growth percentage.

Wind farms being built for Walmart
France-based Engie SA is building two giant wind farms in Texas and Oklahoma under an agreement with Arkansas-based Walmart. The deal has Engie providing 366 megawatts of power generation capacity to the retail giant from two new wind farms, one in Texas and the other in Oklahoma. The Texas project—the 300 megawatt Prairie Hill Wind Project—will build a $307 million wind farm near Mart, Texas, in Limestone County.

Lehigh Acres, Fla., and Mount Pleasant, S.C., named fastest growing U.S. cities
According to an analysis by personal finance website WalletHub, Lehigh Acres, Fla., ranked as the fastest growing city in the U.S., and Mount Pleasant, S.C., was named the second fastest growing U.S. city. The analysis compared 515 cities of varying population sizes based on “sociodemographics,” and the local economy, using 17 metrics that include population growth, job growth, income growth, poverty rate decrease and building permit activity growth, among others. Bend, Ore.; Enterprise, Nev.; and Frisco, Texas, rounded out the top five. Shreveport, La., the study showed, is the nation’s slowest-growing city.

Austin’s unstoppable tech job sector
A report from commercial real estate services company CBRE that was published in the fall showed that Austin’s tech workforce created over 10,000 new jobs in 2017 and 2018. That was an increase of 22.5 percent for the two years, or 60.4 percent of all new office jobs in Austin. Only San Francisco (24.7 percent) and Seattle (23.7 percent) bested Austin for growth of tech jobs over those two years.

Tampa is the most likely U.S. city to be hit by “silver tsunami”
According to Zillow research, Tampa has more senior citizens that own homes and is the most susceptible city in the U.S. for the “silver tsunami.” The “silver tsunami” occurs when people age out of home ownership, die or find other living accommodations. About 34 percent of owner-occupied U.S. homes are owned by people aged 60 or older, but that percentage is much higher in Tampa.

Facebook opens new Austin office
The social media company’s newest offices in the Third + Shoal tower in downtown Austin have room for more than 1,550 employees. Facebook already has about 1,200 employees in the capital city across multiple offices, said Katherine Shappley, head of the Austin office and vice president of Facebook’s North American Global Business Group. “As you look at Silicon Valley, all companies I think are looking to other prime locations like Austin—center of the country, vibrant community and great talent pool,” she said.

Apple breaks ground on $1 billion Austin campus
Apple Inc. has broken ground on its $1 billion North Austin campus. The new location is expected to house 5,000 workers when it opens in 2022, and as many as 15,000 in a few years. Apple manufactures MAC computers in Austin as well. The current employee count for Apple in Austin is over 6,000.

Austin and Raleigh are tops in Tech Town Index
CompTIA came out with its Tech Town Index in the fall, with Austin ranking first and Raleigh second. To compile the list, CompTIA considered six factors, including number of IT jobs, cost of living index rank and location quotient (number of IT job advertisements by number of people employed).

Austin and Durham cited by Inc. Magazine
Durham, N.C.’s affordable rent and educated workforce has earned the city a ranking in Inc. Magazine’s “Surge Cities” ranking as one of the 50 best cities for startups in 2020. Durham is No. 3, while Austin is No. 1. Salt Lake City placed second. Charleston, S.C., and Miami made the top 10, while Nashville and Raleigh ranked just outside the top 10.

President Trump attends opening of Louis Vuitton’s new plant in rural Texas
President Trump visited the new Louis Vuitton plant opening in Keene, Texas, in October. It’s the first U.S. plant for the France-based maker of luxury purses and handbags. The plant had 150 employees when it opened.

Dallas-Fort Worth leads nation in law office leases
From third quarter 2018 to second quarter 2019, Dallas-Fort Worth led the nation in law office lease expansions, according to a new report from CBRE Group Inc. Over 700,000 square feet of office space was leased during that time, and 428,000 square feet was leased by expanding law firms, the highest in the country. Following Dallas-Fort Worth were Los Angeles and New York City.

Houston-based LNG companies get approval from FERC for terminals
Three Houston-based companies received federal approval on November 21 for liquefied natural gas terminals proposed at the Port of Brownsville in South Texas. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved LNG export facilities worth billions to Annova LNG, Texas LNG and NextDecade Corp. to build their plants at the Port of Brownsville in South Texas.

Virginia governor announces tuition-free community college
In December, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced that his proposed budget for 2020 would include money to provide tuition-free community college for in-need students that are studying for certain job fields. His proposed “Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back” program includes $145 million over two years to pay for the tuition.

Kentucky’s bourbon industry has set two records
Last year, Kentucky distilleries filled more than 2.1 million barrels of bourbon. The Kentucky Distillers’ Association says it’s the highest inventory in the 52 years they’ve kept records. It’s also the first and only time since 1967 that distillers have filled more than 2 million barrels of bourbon. Kentucky now boasts two barrels of bourbon and aging spirits for every person living in the Commonwealth.

New Kentucky governor restores voting rights to nonviolent felons
New Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order in December to restore the voting rights of 140,000 nonviolent offenders who have completed their sentences. Beshear signed the order on his third day in office.

The Appalachian Regional Commission announces $44.4 million investment package
In the fall quarter, the Appalachian Regional Commission announced a $44.4 million investment to diversify the coal region of the organization’s territory. There were over 54 awards given to retain almost 6,000 jobs. The money will also help secure $39 million in private investment, create or retain almost 3,000 businesses and train thousands of workers and students within the broadband and entrepreneurship sectors. Money is also being set aside for substance abuse recovery. The downturn in the coal market has been devastating to the economies of nine Appalachian states.

Cheniere puts Corpus Christi LNG train into service
The second of three planned units at a Cheniere Energy facility at the Port of Corpus Christi is ready to begin liquefying natural gas. The facility, known in the industry as a train, will liquefy natural gas piped in from oil fields in Texas and other parts of the continental U.S. so that it can be shipped abroad. Shipments from train 2 will begin next year. The first delivery is expected to arrive at an unnamed location in May 2020. Cheniere has agreed to ship LNG to several foreign-owned companies, including French utility Électricité de France S.A., Spanish utility Iberdrola S.A., and Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina. Train 2 was on time and within budget, the company said.

Charles Schwab CEO said operating expenses not a “big driver” in HQ move to North Texas
In a story in the Dallas Business Journal in December, Charles Schwab CEO Peter Crawford said that reducing operating expenses in moving its headquarters to Westlake, Texas, from San Francisco was not a “big driver” in the company’s decision. Charles Schwab acquired TD Ameritrade, and both companies have more than 4,000 employees in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro.

FP&L’s plans for building the world’s largest solar battery plant are underway
Florida Power & Light Company is close to breaking ground on the world’s largest solar battery plant in Parrish, Fla. The company has a goal of installing 30 million solar panels by 2030. The new battery plant is replacing an aging fossil fuel plant for the utility, one of the nation’s cleanest companies. The battery storage plant is being built next to one of FP&L’s largest solar farms.

Arlington, Va., Raleigh and Austin make top 10 cities for young professionals
Arlington, Va., Raleigh and Austin made GoBankingRates.com’s top 10 in its ranking titled, “30 Best Cities for Young Professionals.” Madison, Wisc., was the site’s choice for No. 1. The city of Arlington is where Amazon is building its HQ2 and hiring 25,000 workers. Raleigh and Austin are home to high-tech companies such as Apple, Facebook and Microsoft.

American Airlines opens new Fort Worth headquarters
In the fall quarter, American Airlines opened its new headquarters in Fort Worth. Employees bike from building to building on 8.3 miles of trails within the car-free campus interior. Celebrity chefs are guests at the cafeteria and there are no offices. The CEO has the same size desk as a new hire.

Metro Atlanta’s jobless rate in September was lowest since 2000
As a whole, Georgia lost jobs in September. However, that same month, Atlanta gained 1,500 jobs and its unemployment rate dropped to 2.9 percent, the lowest in almost 20 years. While unemployment may be reaching new lows in Atlanta, that doesn’t mean workers are seeing an increase in wages. In fact, Atlanta ranks among the worst in the nation for wage growth. According to a report released by PayScale, Atlanta is No. 7 nationally for cities with the lowest wage growth.

South Carolina Ports Authority has $63 billion annual economic effect on Palmetto State
The South Carolina Ports Authority and the Port of Charleston had a $63.4 billion annual economic impact on the state of South Carolina according to a study done by the University of South Carolina. The port supports one in ten jobs in the state.

Central Florida’s Port Canaveral responsible for $3.85 billion economic impact.
Port Canaveral generated an economic impact of $3.85 billion to Florida’s economy in 2018, a just-released study indicates. Most of that economic impact from the world’s second-busiest cruise port was felt on the Space Coast and in the Orlando area. The port also supports 32,650 jobs.

Alabama plant wins “Plant of the Year”
GE Appliances in Decatur, Ala., was named Assembly Magazine’s “Manufacturing Plant of the Year” in the fall quarter. The GE plant is owned by Chinese company Haier and makes refrigerators. The 42-year-old facility recently saw $115 million in investments to earn the company’s Manufacturing Center of Excellence for its top-freezer refrigerators. The investment also created 255 new jobs for a total of 1,300 at the plant.

Four Southern markets make “America’s Youngest Cities” list
Realtor.com came out with its top 10 list of “America’s Youngest Cities,” and four cities from the South made the top 10. They are Stillwater, Okla. (2); Jacksonville, N.C. (3); College Station, Texas (6) and Statesboro, Ga. (9). Provo, Utah, was named the youngest city in American in the study.

Arizona State University study shows Oklahoma City is tops for “ease of doing business”
Arizona State’s “Doing Business North America” ranking has Oklahoma City as the No. 1 U.S. city for “ease of doing business” for small and medium-size cities. Arlington, Va., was No. 2 in the ranking and Atlanta was No. 5. Also making the top 10 in the South were Charlotte (6); Houston (7); Virginia Beach (9) and Charleston, S.C. (10).

Amazon’s HQ2 focusing on affordable housing
Amazon will give Arlington, Va., $20 million for affordable housing efforts in the first round of community benefits it will provide for its development in Pentagon City. Amazon envisions a pair of towers totaling about 2.1 million square feet, with building heights of up to 22 stories.

Virginia port will be East Coast’s deepest harbor
The Port of Virginia has begun dredging its harbor to 56 feet, which would make it the deepest channel on the East Coast. The dredging began in December and when it is completed in 2024, the commercial channels serving the Norfolk Harbor will be able to simultaneously accommodate two ultra-large container vessels. The investment in the project exceeds $350 million.

Film industry is booming in Oklahoma
Oklahoma recently expanded a rebate program for the film industry, and it is working. Film production there has tripled since the rebate program was enacted. Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro) and “Stillwater” (starring Matt Damon) are in the works right now.

757 is now the branding name for Hampton Roads, Va.
Hampton Roads, Va., which includes Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Newport News among other cities, is now called 757 (the entire area’s area code) in a rebranding effort by several of the economic development agencies in the area.  The region is home to 1.7 million people.

Old mall transformed in Louisiana?
North Shore Square, a mall in Slidell, La., that has struggled to find new life, is one of three sites being considered to house the National Finance Center, an agency that handles payroll for the Navy. The move could bring 800 to 1,200 jobs to the site, according to Chris Masingill, CEO of the St. Tammany Development District, and would breathe new life into an area that has seen an exodus of retailers and restaurants.

Arkansas county had the largest wage gain in nation this year
Data from the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that Benton County, Ark., had the largest wage gain among the nation’s 355 largest counties—16.3 percent in the second quarter of 2019. In Benton County, average weekly wages rose by 35 percent. Benton County is the home of Walmart’s world headquarters. 

Apple ducks Chinese tariffs by building Mac Pro in Texas
With the U.S. and China still locking horns in a tariff battle, consumer technology giant Apple is finding ways to duck Chinese tariffs and will continue to build its desktop computer, the Mac Pro, in Austin, Texas. This shift to building the new Mac Pro domestically comes as tariffs on China are hurting the bottom line, particularly for Apple’s bread-and-butter product, the iPhone.