Employment In Houston, Texas Up By 2.8 Percent

June 23, 2008 1:52 p.m. EST

Houston, TX (AHN) - While most of the states are reeling from the non-stop fuel price increase, Texas is benefiting from the soaring cost of oil.

Employment has risen by 2.8 percent as machine shops employs local community college students at $30 an hour even before the students finish their two-year courses. Houston's employment rate is the highest among 39 largest metropolitan areas and nine times over the national rate.

Over 1,800 gas and oil rigs are running, the highest number in operations since the mid-1980s as the Texas-based firms search for precious black gold.

The frenzied search for more oil has fueled an increase in retail sales, higher tax collections and hiked house prices, which is opposite of the economic situation in the rest of the country.

But the companies operating here are in search of oil not only in Texas but outside the nation. Some are firms engaged in the design and manufacture of search and drilling tools. Barton Smith, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting, told the Washington Post, "To the extent that Houston is the energy capital of the world, (it) is not because we have a lot of hardhats, but because we have a lot of technology."

The second business boom in Houston gave it the funds needed to plan a $2 billion plus rail system that would cover 28 miles. The Houston City council, on a 13-2 vote, approved last week the Metro permission to go ahead with the construction of the mass transit systems.