When an industry as large as U.S. oil gets hit as hard as it has in recent years, the struggles can weigh on parts of the economy that have nothing to do with energy.
According to the Houston Chronicle’s Lydia DePillis, areas of the country losing a lot of oil-related “base” jobs are likely also losing “non-base” jobs as well.
A region’s economic base is typically the industry and/or manufacturing jobs in a region that extend to markets outside of the local area. For example, London’s financial services industry provides services throughout Europe, which is one of the reasons why there is so much uncertainty about the U.K. economy following the Brexit vote.
Houston is known for its oil industry, but the non-base jobs the city was relying on to help build the its 21st-century economy are already getting dragged down by the oil market. These non-base jobs include restaurants, retail, hospitality, real estate and professional services. While no single segment has a larger presence in Houston than the oil & gas industry, all the non-base jobs combined far outnumber the local oil & gas jobs.
The end result can be seen…
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