Special Questions

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

Data were collected January 13-21 and 80 Texas manufacturers responded to the survey.

NOTE: 79 responses.

NOTES: 34 responses. This question was only posed to those currently trying to hire workers. “Applicants seeking more remote work options than offered" was added in Jan. ’24.

NOTES: 79 responses. Prior to July ’25, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 79 responses. Prior to July ’25, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 57 responses. These calculations exclude the 27.8 percent of respondents selecting “Not applicable.” The survey posed a similar question in July 2025.

NOTE: 79 responses.

NOTE: 78 responses.

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 January 13-21 and 235 Texas business executives responded to the surveys.

NOTE: 232 responses.

NOTES: 101 responses. This question was only posed to those currently trying to hire workers. “Applicants seeking more remote work options than offered" was added in Jan. ’24.

NOTES: 229 responses. Prior to July ’25, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 228 responses. Prior to July ’25, the question asked about the change over the past month.

NOTES: 160 responses. These calculations exclude the 30.1 percent of respondents selecting “Not applicable.” The survey posed a similar question in July 2025.

NOTE: 231 responses.

NOTE: 224 responses.

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

Special Questions Comments

Survey participants are given the opportunity to submit comments. Some comments have been edited for grammar and clarity.

• We have a handful of employees with temporary work authorization. They have to renew these regularly, and this process is taking longer than it used to. This causes some uncertainty for them and for us. We don’t want to lose good employees, but we can’t keep them if their authorization expires because the government doesn’t renew their work authorization in a timely manner.

• We cannot make any plans with tariffs changing from day to day. Even the uncertainty is causing us to freeze on any plans.
• We still are reluctant to make any significant upgrades and improvements with the current new order stagnation except for required capital maintenance.

• Good people that fit our culture are hard to find. When we do find them, we keep them. In some cases, however, our pay scale has been just a little short of what the candidates were seeking. Ultimately, we’ve missed out on a couple of potentially great hires that simply thought more highly of themselves than we were able to compensate.
• This is the first year that we have increased our purchases for new equipment. However, this equipment will increase our production without increasing employment requirements. Once the machine is programmed it can run on its own 24/7.

• We are optimistic that our industry tariff problems will be fixed, resulting in more capital projects being started. We are a very capital-intensive business that requires capital upgrades to our equipment on a regular basis.
• Capital is focused on adding new product capabilities.

• We have pulled in our horns and are not spending money unless we have to. Additional capital expenditures are definitely not in the plans at this time.

• Hiring machinists, technicians and engineers is the easiest it’s been in many years due to contraction in the oil patch, which does not seem to be changing.

• Enhancements to data processing and technology will contribute to increased capital cost.

• Wage pressure and increasing operating expenses are forcing me to raise prices on customers. I hate doing this. I am working on increasing prices next month by 14.6 percent just to absorb increasing inflation over the years. My last price increase was November 2022.

• We are looking to spend more on AI, both software and employees.
• Our company is expecting better 2026 revenue and profit numbers compared to 2025.
• There are signs of a booming economy for 2026. Lots of projects and teeming inquiries. We are a 20-person architecture firm, and we currently have lots of projects on the board and are expecting more in the near future. We would like to add staff, but we still do not have a pool of experienced applicants to draw upon. This is a real constraint to our growth.
• Our revenue is not allowing raises for employees.
• We are planning a move, so the capital spending is required rather than optional.
• Heavy investment in AI to keep up with competition.
• We have been much more successful in hiring structural engineers in the last 12 months than the three years prior. Our issue now is drafting technicians. There seems to be a real shortage of experienced BIM [building information modeling] drafters.
• As a sole proprietorship that is dependent upon the capital spending of others, I will not be upgrading or replacing any electronic equipment such as computers unless there is a total failure of a unit.

• While others are fearful, we plan to double down on growing our business.

• Thousands of transportation workers were let go in the month of December, as many more trucking companies closed their doors or filed for bankruptcy.

• Too much U.S. and global uncertainty is affecting a very sensitive supply chain still in recovery mode.

• We believe that general business activity is picking up. Consumers are a little tight with their money.