Special Questions

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

Data were collected July 16–24, and 78 Texas manufacturers responded to the survey.

NOTE: 78 responses.

NOTES: 36 responses. This question was only posed to firms currently trying to hire workers.

NOTE: 76 responses.

NOTE: 76 responses.

NOTES: 75 responses. These calculations exclude the 1.3 percent of respondents selecting "Not applicable—we don’t have receivables."

NOTE: 75 responses.

NOTES: 32 responses. This question was only posed to firms seeing a decrease in the amount of spending per customer.

NOTE: 76 responses.

NOTES: 10 responses. This question was only posed to firms paying their bills more slowly.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Data were collected July 16–24, and 255 Texas business executives responded to the survey.

NOTE: 252 responses.

NOTES: 126 responses. This question was only posed to firms currently trying to hire workers.

NOTE: 248 responses.

NOTE: 248 responses.

NOTES: 216 responses. These calculations exclude the 11.8 percent of respondents selecting "Not applicable—we don’t have receivables."

NOTE: 240 responses.

NOTES: 73 responses. This question was only posed to firms seeing a decrease in the amount of spending per customer.

NOTE: 245 responses.

NOTES: 22 responses. This question was only posed to firms paying their bills more slowly.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

Data were collected July 16–24, and 51 Texas retailers responded to the survey.

NOTE: 51 responses.

NOTES: 20 responses. This question was only posed to firms currently trying to hire workers.

NOTE: 50 responses.

NOTE: 51 responses.

NOTES: 42 responses. These calculations exclude the 14.3 percent of respondents selecting "Not applicable—we don’t have receivables."

NOTE: 50 responses.

NOTES: 26 responses. This question was only posed to firms seeing a decrease in the amount of spending per customer.

NOTE: 49 responses.

NOTES: 5 responses. This question was only posed to firms paying their bills more slowly.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Special Questions Comments

These comments have been edited for publication.

• We make frozen tamales and are gaining retail customers located in California. We have had to add staff.

• We have a good backlog, but customers/owners are slowing down their delivery and approval deadlines.

• We are in a recession; we see it in manufacturing. The BEA [Bureau of Economic Analysis] recession data always lag six months.
• We are getting squeezed by our customers and suppliers. Everyone wants their money faster, while the oil companies are paying slower. It’s funny that during COVID, oil companies begged us for price reductions and really hammered us, but now they are telling us how they are going to wait 60 days to pay us. On the other hand, suppliers are demanding fast payment with no incentive. We are stuck in the middle, but just wait. They are setting themselves up for real trouble in the future.

• Inventories are getting depleted very slowly due to lack of sales in the capital equipment industry.

• Recently, we had a search for several machinists, and the candidates who interviewed were significantly stronger than recent candidates. Additionally, we had all candidates who scheduled interviews attend the interviews. This is a huge shift from prior searches.

• In the private sector, employers take employing people very personally and seriously. We must look our staff in the eye. It appears that academia and the government do not comprehend that.
• Competition for qualified employees has increased.

• We were adding people to our company rapidly through the first half of the year, but I have now instituted a hiring freeze and an expense freeze. We think things are going to get tighter and harder before they get better.

• Business activity has slowed, but we see this as temporary, as there are queries and solicitations for upcoming projects. We still cannot find experienced project managers to hire. There are virtually no viable applicants to our job postings.

• The economic pain we are feeling, no matter if the business is small or large, is real.

• Customers are slow paying, and we're trying to stay ahead, but we're falling slightly behind as well.

• Inflation, combined with the decrease in demand, has caused a major problem. Employees are requesting—and need—higher salaries to maintain their financial position, but business activity does not allow us to give raises that match inflation.

• Regulation makes it too hard to obtain a commercial driver license, especially with endorsements. Too much paperwork and administrative delays, and now you have to take a course. Much of the testing material has no relationship to the driver's ability to safely drive a truck. If they would make it easier, we would have more drivers. Lack of drivers makes almost everything in the economy cost more.