Special Questions

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

Data were collected May 14–22, and 110 Texas manufacturers responded to the surveys.
See data files with a full history of results.

What annual percent change in wages, input prices and selling prices did your firm experience in 2018 and what do you expect for 2019?

Downloadable chart | Chart data

NOTES: 97 responses. Shown are trimmed means with the lowest and highest 5 percent of responses omitted.

What, if anything, are you doing to recruit and retain employees? Please check all that apply.

NOTES: 94 responses. Starting in November 2018, "increasing wages" appears as a separate answer choice from 'increasing benefits.' We will continue to include the share of firms reporting increasing wages and/or benefits but as a calculation based on responses to "increasing wages" and 'increasing benefits.'

Are you currently trying to hire?

NOTE: 110 responses.

Are you having problems finding qualified workers when hiring?*

*This question posed only to respondents who answered "yes" to the previous question.
NOTE: 78 responses.

If you are you having problems finding qualified workers, what are the main reasons why? Please select all that apply.*

*This question posed only to respondents who answered "yes" to the previous question.
NOTE: 61 responses.

At your firm, what is the average hourly wage paid for each category?

NOTES: 89 responses. Shown are the median values.

How has your firm’s operating margin (defined as earnings before interest and taxes [EBIT] as a share of total revenue) changed over the past six months?

NOTE: 105 responses.

Special Questions Comments

These comments have been edited for publication.

Food Manufacturing

• We need a sensible immigration program to support manufacturing growth in the U.S. We are turning down growth opportunities because of lack of labor.

Apparel Manufacturing

• Efficiencies and increased volumes are driving margin increases.

Chemical Manufacturing

• There is a heavy focus on robotics and automation to address efficiencies and employment shortages.

Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing

• Input pricing changes depend upon tariff amounts.

Primary Metal Manufacturing

• Business is still very good. While we expect a slowdown in the second half of this year, the slowdown should be moderate.

Machinery Manufacturing

• Forecasting is impossible, and skilled labor is nonexistent.
• Tariffs are impacting profit and loss (P&L), and they will be increasing due to the 10 to 25 percent increase in May.

Electrical Equipment, Appliance and Component Manufacturing

• Wages are up, and in the Dallas area if you don't have a job, it’s because you don’t want one. (Or you can't pass the drug test.)

Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

• The motor home industry has been in a slump for six months.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Data were collected May 14–22, and 262 Texas business executives responded to the surveys.
See data files with a full history of results.

What annual percent change in wages, input prices and selling prices did your firm experience in 2018 and what do you expect for 2019?

Downloadable chart | Chart data

NOTES: 199 responses. Shown are trimmed means with the lowest and highest 5 percent of responses omitted.

What, if anything, are you doing to recruit and retain employees? Please check all that apply.

NOTES: 225 responses. Starting in November 2018, "increasing wages" appears as a separate answer choice from 'increasing benefits.' We will continue to include the share of firms reporting increasing wages and/or benefits but as a calculation based on responses to "increasing wages" and 'increasing benefits.'

Are you currently trying to hire?

NOTE: 260 responses.

Are you having problems finding qualified workers when hiring?*

*This question posed only to respondents who answered "yes" to the previous question.
NOTE: 181 responses.

If you are you having problems finding qualified workers, what are the main reasons why? Please select all that apply.*

*This question posed only to respondents who answered "yes" to the previous question.
NOTE: 152 responses.

At your firm, what is the average hourly wage paid for each category?

NOTES: 161 responses. Shown are the median values.

How has your firm’s operating margin (defined as earnings before interest and taxes [EBIT] as a share of total revenue) changed over the past six months?

NOTE: 249 responses.

Special Questions Comments

These comments have been edited for publication.

Truck Transportation

• Work has slowed down below what it takes to break even! We can't find anyone who wants to work as a diesel mechanic, even at $30 to $40 an hour.

Broadcasting (Except Internet)

• Our anticipated increase in wages is most impacted by our annual pay adjustments we do on July 1 of each year (so we consider that a seasonal adjustment). At this moment, we anticipate increasing all wages by 3 percent on July 1, 2019. On July 1, 2018, we increased wages by 5 percent and moved our “minimum wage” from $10 an hour to $11 an hour. We plan on holding our “minimum wage” at $11 for 2019.

Credit Intermediation and Related Activities

• Wages are increasing without increases in selling prices. We are focused on reductions in marketing and charitable giving budgets to try to maintain profit margins.

Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities

• Our margin has increased largely due to understaffing. The understaffing is not due to a lack of applicants. To the contrary, we have more applicants than ever before. Finding qualified applicants who can write a coherent sentence and pass evaluations remains very difficult.
• Our operating margin has decreased due to investment in future growth.

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services

• There is a lot of uncertainty on the economic front with USMCA [U.S.–Mexico–Canada trade agreement], Chinese tariffs, labor availability, etc.
• The only reason the operating margin has increased is because my firm has had some work (consulting).

Administrative and Support Services

• We are a staffing company and are finding the availability of skilled personnel to be limited.
• We are government contractors—our contracts are a fixed price and based on government wage determination.

Educational Services

• Labor costs are rising, and it is harder to raise contracted prices when our purchase orders are annual.

Nursing and Residential Care Facilities

• Margins dropped drastically with the increased cost of labor due to overtime. We have remained 6 to 10 percent short of the number of employees required to staff our required positions with an 85 percent turnover rate amongst 67 percent of our entire staff.

Food Services and Drinking Places

• Small same-store sales gains have cut commission checks to managers.

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

Data were collected May 14–22, and 50 Texas retailers responded to the surveys.
See data files with a full history of results.

What annual percent change in wages, input prices and selling prices did your firm experience in 2018 and what do you expect for 2019?

Downloadable chart | Chart data

NOTES: 35 responses. Shown are trimmed means with the lowest and highest 5 percent of responses omitted.

What, if anything, are you doing to recruit and retain employees? Please check all that apply.

NOTES: 45 responses. Starting in November 2018, "increasing wages" appears as a separate answer choice from 'increasing benefits.' We will continue to include the share of firms reporting increasing wages and/or benefits but as a calculation based on responses to "increasing wages" and 'increasing benefits.'

Are you currently trying to hire?

NOTE: 50 responses.

Are you having problems finding qualified workers when hiring?*

*This question posed only to respondents who answered "yes" to the previous question.
NOTE: 35 responses.

If you are you having problems finding qualified workers, what are the main reasons why? Please select all that apply.*

*This question posed only to respondents who answered "yes" to the previous question.
NOTE: 31 responses.

At your firm, what is the average hourly wage paid for each category?

NOTES: 35 responses. Shown are the median values.

How has your firm’s operating margin (defined as earnings before interest and taxes [EBIT] as a share of total revenue) changed over the past six months?

NOTE: 44 responses.

Special Questions Comments

These comments have been edited for publication.

Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods

• The big uncertainty is related to the recently implemented tariffs.

Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods

• Input prices will depend on tariffs.

Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers

• Prices are entirely dependent on the automobile manufacturers. We have no control over them.
• Our company is focused on offsetting wage and other expense increases by trying to increase margins by small amounts—1 to 2 percent.

Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores

• Input prices will be determined by the outcome of the tariff issues. Selling prices are very difficult to increase for an apparel retailer.