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Texas Economy

Texas Service Sector Growth Weakens Further in September

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey
September 27, 2022

Texas Service Sector Growth Weakens Further in September

What’s New This Month

For this month’s survey, Texas business executives were asked supplemental questions on credit conditions and outlook concerns. Results for these questions from the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey, Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey and Texas Retail Outlook Survey have been released together. Read the special questions results.

Activity in the Texas service sector increased at a slower pace in September, according to business executives responding to the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey. The revenue index, a key measure of state service sector conditions, weakened from 7.2 in August to 5.9 in September, although the share of firms reporting increasing revenues remained steady at 30 percent.

Labor market indicators suggested growth in employment improved slightly, while hours worked growth remained steady compared with August. The employment index increased two points to 10.4, while the part-time employment index was flat at 1.5. The hours worked index was also mostly flat compared with August at 2.9.

Perceptions of broader business conditions remained negative in September. The general business activity index was roughly unchanged at -5.4. The company outlook index improved from -2.4 to -1.4, while the outlook uncertainty index fell six points to 14.4.

Selling prices and wage pressures continued to moderate in September while input price growth picked up slightly. Nevertheless, the indexes remained well above historical averages. The selling prices index fell from 23.5 to 21.1, while the input prices index increased four points to 48.5. The wages and benefits index slipped from 26.1 to 24.6.

Respondents’ expectations regarding future business activity were mixed in September. The future general business activity index worsened from -0.9 to -6.7. The future service sector activity indexes such as revenue, employment and capital expenditures remained positive, suggesting continued growth for the rest of the year.

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

Texas Retail Outlook Survey
September 27, 2022

Texas Retail Sales Deteriorate in September

September retail sales activity declined, according to business executives responding to the Texas Retail Outlook Survey. The sales index, a key measure of state retail activity, dropped 13 points to -17.9. Retailers’ inventories continued to increase on net, as the inventories index rose from 2.5 to 10.1, suggesting inventories grew at a significantly faster pace than in August.

Retail labor market indicators reflected somewhat slower employment growth and shorter workweeks in September. The employment index remained positive, though it slipped from 4.1 to 3.0. The part-time employment index remained in negative territory but increased from -4.4 to -0.5. The hours worked index declined further from -3.9 to -7.3, with the share of firms reporting an increase in average hours worked among employees falling from 7.3 percent to 5.8 percent.

Retailers’ perceptions of broader business conditions worsened further in September. The general business activity index fell two points to -20.5, while the company outlook index slipped from -11.8 to -13.1. The outlook uncertainty index fell from 12.9 to 8.2.

Retail wage pressures remained unchanged in September, while price pressures were mixed. The selling prices index inched down one point to 32.0, while the input prices index grew from 38.1 to 47.6. The wages and benefits index was flat at 17.5.

Expectations for future retail growth were mixed in September. The future general business activity index fell further to -19.1, while the future sales index dropped 16 points to 5.9, reflecting continued growth expectations. Other indexes of future retail activity such as employment and capital expenditures showed mixed movements but remained in positive territory, suggesting expectations for continued growth over the next six months.

The Texas Retail Outlook Survey is a component of the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey that uses information only from respondents in the retail and wholesale sectors.

Next release: November 1, 2022

Data were collected September 13–21, and 305 Texas service sector business executives, of which 61 were retailers, responded to the survey. The Dallas Fed conducts the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey monthly to obtain a timely assessment of the state’s service sector activity. Firms are asked whether revenue, employment, prices, general business activity and other indicators increased, decreased or remained unchanged over the previous month.

Survey responses are used to calculate an index for each indicator. Each index is calculated by subtracting the percentage of respondents reporting a decrease from the percentage reporting an increase. When the share of firms reporting an increase exceeds the share reporting a decrease, the index will be greater than zero, suggesting the indicator has increased over the prior month. If the share of firms reporting a decrease exceeds the share reporting an increase, the index will be below zero, suggesting the indicator has decreased over the prior month. An index will be zero when the number of firms reporting an increase is equal to the number of firms reporting a decrease. Data have been seasonally adjusted as necessary.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

September 27, 2022
Results Summary

Historical data are available from January 2007 to the most current release month.

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas
Current (versus previous month)
IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease

Revenue

5.9

7.2

–1.3

11.2

26(+)

29.6

46.7

23.7

Employment

10.4

8.5

+1.9

6.6

26(+)

20.7

69.0

10.3

Part–Time Employment

1.5

1.3

+0.2

1.6

22(+)

8.1

85.3

6.6

Hours Worked

2.9

3.1

–0.2

2.9

25(+)

10.0

82.9

7.1

Wages and Benefits

24.6

26.1

–1.5

15.5

28(+)

29.0

66.6

4.4

Input Prices

48.5

44.9

+3.6

27.1

29(+)

52.3

43.9

3.8

Selling Prices

21.1

23.5

–2.4

7.2

26(+)

27.8

65.5

6.7

Capital Expenditures

11.8

10.4

+1.4

10.1

25(+)

20.7

70.5

8.9

General Business Conditions
Current (versus previous month)
IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend**% Reporting Improved% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Worsened

Company Outlook

–1.4

–2.4

+1.0

5.4

4(–)

15.8

66.9

17.2

General Business Activity

–5.4

–5.7

+0.3

3.8

4(–)

16.9

60.8

22.3

IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease

Outlook Uncertainty†

14.4

20.1

–5.7

12.7

16(+)

26.5

61.3

12.1

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas
Future (six months ahead)
IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease

Revenue

34.8

40.4

–5.6

37.8

29(+)

53.5

27.8

18.7

Employment

28.9

30.5

–1.6

23.1

29(+)

39.0

50.9

10.1

Part–Time Employment

4.7

9.6

–4.9

7.0

3(+)

12.6

79.5

7.9

Hours Worked

6.0

3.4

+2.6

6.0

29(+)

11.3

83.4

5.3

Wages and Benefits

50.6

48.2

+2.4

37.2

29(+)

54.0

42.6

3.4

Input Prices

56.1

53.4

+2.7

44.5

189(+)

61.7

32.7

5.6

Selling Prices

37.3

36.4

+0.9

24.3

29(+)

44.2

48.9

6.9

Capital Expenditures

19.9

18.9

+1.0

23.6

28(+)

29.6

60.8

9.7

General Business Conditions
Future (six months ahead)
IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend**% Reporting Improved% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Worsened

Company Outlook

3.5

5.7

–2.2

16.6

3(+)

25.3

52.9

21.8

General Business Activity

–6.7

–0.9

–5.8

13.6

5(–)

22.2

48.8

28.9

Texas Retail Outlook Survey
September 27, 2022
Results Summary

Historical data are available from January 2007 to the most current release month.

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas
Retail (versus previous month)
IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease
Retail Activity in Texas

Sales

–17.9

–5.4

–12.5

4.9

7(–)

20.0

42.1

37.9

Employment

3.0

4.1

–1.1

2.0

3(+)

14.3

74.4

11.3

Part–Time Employment

–0.5

–4.4

+3.9

–1.6

4(–)

8.2

83.1

8.7

Hours Worked

–7.3

–3.9

–3.4

–1.7

2(–)

5.8

81.1

13.1

Wages and Benefits

17.5

17.7

–0.2

11.0

26(+)

24.0

69.5

6.5

Input Prices

47.6

38.1

+9.5

22.1

29(+)

56.6

34.4

9.0

Selling Prices

32.0

32.9

–0.9

13.9

28(+)

48.1

35.8

16.1

Capital Expenditures

6.8

7.3

–0.5

8.1

20(+)

22.9

61.1

16.1

Inventories

10.1

2.5

+7.6

2.0

3(+)

32.0

46.2

21.9

Companywide Retail Activity

Companywide Sales

–6.3

–11.9

+5.6

6.4

5(–)

24.0

45.7

30.3

Companywide Internet Sales

–3.8

–12.2

+8.4

5.3

5(–)

14.2

67.8

18.0

General Business Conditions, Retail
Current (versus previous month)
IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend**% Reporting Improved% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Worsened

Company Outlook

–13.1

–11.8

–1.3

3.1

7(–)

10.2

66.5

23.3

General Business Activity

–20.5

–18.6

–1.9

–0.5

5(–)

9.5

60.5

30.0

Outlook Uncertainty
Current (versus previous month)
IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease

Outlook Uncertainty†

8.2

12.9

–4.7

10.2

16(+)

23.0

62.3

14.8

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas, Retail
Future (six months ahead)
IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease
Retail Activity in Texas

Sales

5.9

22.1

–16.2

32.5

29(+)

39.3

27.3

33.4

Employment

3.1

13.2

–10.1

13.2

29(+)

22.8

57.5

19.7

Part–Time Employment

–1.0

0.3

–1.3

1.7

1(–)

11.6

75.8

12.6

Hours Worked

6.0

–5.2

+11.2

3.1

1(+)

12.5

81.0

6.5

Wages and Benefits

35.0

33.5

+1.5

29.1

29(+)

40.7

53.5

5.7

Input Prices

38.9

38.9

0.0

34.3

29(+)

51.9

35.2

13.0

Selling Prices

29.4

33.3

–3.9

30.2

29(+)

49.0

31.4

19.6

Capital Expenditures

9.3

3.7

+5.6

17.9

28(+)

20.4

68.5

11.1

Inventories

20.4

11.3

+9.1

10.8

29(+)

40.0

40.4

19.6

Companywide Retail Activity

Companywide Sales

11.7

12.9

–1.2

31.0

29(+)

33.2

45.3

21.5

Companywide Internet Sales

2.4

15.5

–13.1

22.5

30(+)

14.0

74.4

11.6

General Business Conditions, Retail
Future (six months ahead)
IndicatorSep IndexAug IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend**% Reporting Improved% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Worsened

Company Outlook

–9.6

–2.8

–6.8

16.9

5(–)

18.9

52.6

28.5

General Business Activity

–19.1

–13.3

–5.8

12.5

6(–)

14.2

52.5

33.3

*Shown is the number of consecutive months of expansion or contraction in the underlying indicator. Expansion is indicated by a positive index reading and denoted by a (+) in the table. Contraction is indicated by a negative index reading and denoted by a (–) in the table.

**Shown is the number of consecutive months of improvement or worsening in the underlying indicator. Improvement is indicated by a positive index reading and denoted by a (+) in the table. Worsening is indicated by a negative index reading and denoted by a (–) in the table.

†Added to survey in January 2018.

Data have been seasonally adjusted as necessary, with the exception of the outlook uncertainty index which does not yet have a sufficiently long time series to test for seasonality.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

September 27, 2022
Revenue Index

Revenue Index Chart

Downloadable chart

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

September 27, 2022
Sales Index

Sales Index Chart

Downloadable chart

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

September 27, 2022

Comments from Survey Respondents

These comments are from respondents’ completed surveys and have been edited for publication.

Utilities
  • We feel the economy is in a recession and that it has worsened our business outlook.
Specialty Trade Contractors
  • People are spending money. The concern is the time it takes to receive equipment and parts. We can sell all we want, but supply-chain issues are prolonging the ability to complete work, which in turn hinders revenue growth.
Truck Transportation
  • The cost of truck parts is going up weekly. Inflation is starting to really show up. In six months, we'll be forced to raise prices and wages to retain our people.
Support Activities for Transportation
  • The potential rail workers’ strike has added to the supply-chain issues and delays. Last week, much of our work was canceled as a result. 
  • The anticipation is that over the next few months, the market will level out.
Warehousing and Storage
  • [Things are] very stable right now—riding a wave of record results for the year with Texas energy in high demand. [We are] a little more uncertain about next year.
Publishing Industries (Except Internet)
  • [We see] increased general risks for business as many public and private organizations are downgrading GDP growth for fourth quarter and next year.
  • We are a growth stage company that is heavily exposed to consumer spending trends, but we are more negatively impacted by rising cost of capital. Ceteris paribus [all things equal], access to capital allows us to continue forward-investing in technology R&D [research and development] and net new capabilities that allow us to stay competitive versus much larger players. Our business activities provide us a tremendous amount of data on consumer spending trends, consumer goods price trends, shipping costs and a host of similar data points. While we have indeed seen inflation in consumer goods prices, we have also seen increased consumer spending. We've also noted that price inflation is extremely polarized by industry. Some industries have seen material inflation, resulting in reduced spending. Others have seen only moderate inflation. Still others have experienced high inflation but continued growth. We have also seen supply-chain pressures easing, depending greatly on the industry. We believe the Fed's [Federal Reserve] use of quantitative tightening (QT) as a hammer when a scalpel is needed will have a net-negative effect on macroeconomic health. Having seen the production and transportation shocks caused by the pandemic, we believe that the current inflationary environment is being driven by disequilibrium that will naturally rebalance as national policies and markets adapt to the post-pandemic environment. We have indicated that six months from now we will see a decline in costs but an increase in our prices; we believe QT will slow inflation but create such an economic drag due to resulting job cuts and slowing growth that we will be forced to raise prices further to maintain margins and meet investor expectations. To support this, we will continue moving upmarket to work with larger, more mature enterprises. This, however, further exacerbates corporate inequality by pricing out small- and medium-sized businesses from the mission-critical enablement capabilities we offer. Additionally, given the impact of QT, we will likely be reducing our workforce in the coming months to ensure the financial sustainability of our company, although considering our natural growth rate, we nonetheless anticipate having a greater head count in six months. Over the next six months, we are also likely to reduce our capital expenditures considering the rising cost of capital.
  • This is the first inflationary cycle since tech companies began offering software as a service (SaaS). Inflation is putting upward pressure on the cost of everything in SaaS businesses from payroll to raw material costs. Proactively managing the gross margin is an absolute must. The economics of the cloud start to look a lot like capital-intensive businesses such as airlines when facing inflating supplier invoices. Sunk costs evaporated with the advent of Amazon web services and Azure, but load factors are critical to contractual discounts and layered contracted costs associated with levels of service. [This is] no different than layering capital leasing and long-term fuel costs of an airline. Unlike airlines, passing production costs on to the customer can only occur when fixed-price contracts are renewed. The company is forced to reduce costs or eat the majority of the cost of goods sold and fixed-price contracts to maintain historical gross margins. This is a double-edged sword. The downside is the customer is locked in at a lower price than the new listed prices; the upside is at least the customer is locked in for the remainder of the contract.
Data Processing, Hosting and Related Services
  • Hiring is easing.
  • The ripple effect of inflation is a real challenge every month. Not all cost increases can be passed on to customers, while the costs to produce services continue to escalate. The planned growth through building new products and research and development for innovations is very delayed due to higher wages and talent shortages.
  • Vendor inflation is high, employees (skilled) are impossible to find or twice as expensive as a few years ago., [The business environment is] very competitive and difficult to maintain profit margins, and higher interest rates slow value creation for investors.
Credit Intermediation and Related Activities
  • The uncertainty of the current economic environment is continuing to create challenges for strategic planning. The future impact of anticipated increased regulatory burden is a major concern and complicated by the political climate. The increase in interest rates has had a substantial negative impact on residential loan activity, and it looks as if that will continue to be the case for some time going forward.
  • Non-prime credit losses continue to get worse.
  • Our expectations are falling.
  • As banks increase the interest rates for short-term loans and tighten credit standards, more commercial income property owners will be seeking long-term, fixed-rate financing from insurance company capital sources. This is what typically happens during a period of increasing interest rates and economic downturn.
Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities
  • Inflationary pressures continue to be an issue.
  • The labor market shortage continues to be a big challenge, [as well as] reduction in real estate revenue, high consumer debt and consistent high inflation.
Insurance Carriers and Related Activities
  • Property insurance in Texas continues to increase.
Real Estate
  • We are increasingly convinced that the best success will come for those with the strongest work ethic. Those who are anxious to work from home, dictate their own hours and expect more for less are starting to get left behind.
  • Activity has stayed relatively strong, sentiment optimistic, and costs seem to be stabilizing at elevated numbers, but stabilizing. We are hoping for costs to fall soon. We are proceeding on most projects.
  • Inflation is hurting most people. Increasing interest rates are passed on to consumers. Increasing interest rates retard purchasing.
  • Higher interest rates are negative news.
Rental and Leasing Services
  • The only reason we have a better six-month outlook is we have picked up a major manufacturer since our last report that is not dependent on China or their ships. 
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
  • The latest economic indicators give no cause for business optimism. We won't know the full impact until after the next Federal Reserve rate adjustment. The market and business response could be more severe than expected.   
  • Returning to in-person work has been a challenge due to employees/potential new hires wanting some portion of the work week to be remote.
  • Inflation is out of control, and the president isn't doing anything productive about it. The president is obsessed with green energy.
  • A lack of qualified workers is still limiting growth. More unbillable time is being expended to train new hires. 
  • We obtained a small amount of consulting work during September, but opportunities are still slim.
  • We are extremely busy and suffering from unpredictable material and labor prices.
  • Business slowdown is happening.
  • Supply-chain issues continue to cause us huge challenges especially with utilization of our engineering resources, which are lower than usual due to the unpredictability of product lead times.
  • With a recession on the horizon, we expect technology spending budgets are going to be reduced and will affect technology sector sales.
  • We see some signs of big companies laying off. But our customers are very aggressive about spending money on information technology to drive revenue and/or margins. 
  • We are a technology company. We understand that technology may not be reflective of the general economy. Technology projects and people are in huge demand, and the supply is expected to be limited for the foreseeable future.
  • We anticipated many of the macroeconomic challenges related to global destabilization—continued supply-chain disruptions, energy prices and inflation—and accounted for them in our business outlook forecasting. Future interest rates and the overall recession have reduced our outlook over the next six months. Although we anticipate growth, it will be at a much smaller percentage than originally forecast at the beginning of the year.
  • Stubbornly high inflation, continuing recession worries, increased interest rates and concerns of global recession are causing our corporate clients to reduce spending that will likely continue if economic and inflationary issues remain the same or worsen. 
  • [There is] continued stock market volatility.
  • Business is fine. Supplies and goods are higher. [I am] careful what I purchase.
  • [We are concerned about ] the potential rail strike.
  • We are in a place of transition—significant decisions that have to do with leadership, staffing a refresh of our brand, etc. Not really related to the economy, but that uncertainty coupled with what is happening in the economy does add a bit of extra stress.
  • I think that a lot of the people in the business management/ownership sector are still looking for that "second shoe" to drop in terms of the economy. In addition, there is a sense that the longer it takes for the economy to really go downhill, the worse conditions will be.
  • August was another great revenue month, but we are seeing a decrease in new orders for both commercial and residential real estate transactions. This doesn't look or feel like a recession, but with inflation remaining high and another increase in the Fed rate forthcoming, we will have to see how the economy reacts. Keeping our fingers crossed for a soft landing.
  • [There is a] slowdown on the design side. Experience indicates construction will slow in about six months. 
Administrative and Support Services
  • Inflation continues to be the No. 1 issue in my business.
  • As government travel contractors, we received more travel requests than last year.
  • All our inspection service sectors were very slow in August. However, since Sept. 1, a 23 percent increase in captured RFQs [request for quotes] has been achieved. The oil and gas sector has slowly increased requests for new-equipment inspection. However, field replacements are still slow, at least for the inspection side. The corporate aircraft sector has seen a decrease in wheel inspections and teardowns, with the reasons being less access to replacement parts (supply chain), and so the life of the wheel and wheel rim is being conserved. Aviation RFQs and captures have increased significantly. This is a good sign going into the fourth quarter for us. Military aircraft inspections have increased with the increased tempo of usage. As a result, I think the parts shortage will soon start to affect these older airframes more. We are still having a significant issue finding and hiring qualified non-destructive testing inspectors, especially for the aviation side of the house.
  • Wages are difficult to match, and even when you do, no one wants to do work that gets you dirty.
Educational Services
  • We provide technical training services for manufacturing. The need is back on track to match prepandemic amounts. 
  • Inflation remains a concern but seems to be leveling off.
  • [We] received Employee Retention [Tax Credit] checks for two out of six quarters. The lead time from sending 941s ground mail to checks’ receipt is three months. 
Ambulatory Health Care Services
  • [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has launched yet another insane war phase;
    Wild swings and losses are causes for max malaise;
    Yield curve has inverted;
    Economists have thus asserted;
    If something doesn’t break, would thus truly amaze.
  • There are four main current driving trends that we see:
    1. Rising hiring difficulties—recruitment of new employees remains significantly difficult, particularly finding appropriately qualified candidates and rising wage requirements. We are seeing some shift of qualified candidates from other segments (e.g., school nurses applying for open registered nurse positions, etc.).
    2. Rising costs of doing business across all categories: labor, supplies, support services.
    3. Difficulties in raising prices, or in our case, negotiating price increases with insurance companies, despite their record profits.
    4. COVID-19 is not gone; in fact, our research indicates that this winter season will be the worst in years given the heightened risk for a dual pandemic to finally take hold (flu and COVID), along with seasonal colds, etc.
  • Inflation/increasing wages and supply-chain issues are all negatively impacting my company.
Accommodation
  • Inflation and hiring/retention continue to be our biggest operating challenges.
Food Services and Drinking Places
  • My biggest concern is customer pushback on increasing menu prices and whether they will return over a period of time. I'm considering all options: reduce hours of operation, smaller restaurant footprint, improving technology to support changing customer preferences and automating processes because employee shortages will continue unless Congress addresses immigration issues.
  • We continue to suffer from empty downtown offices and very little sign of business travel and don't expect that to change anytime soon, if ever. The cost of goods and payroll continues to increase. Shortage of employees remains a big problem, and we continue to turn away some business because we cannot staff [the business]. Signs of softening in demand are cropping up with some customers doing layoffs.
  • Hiring good applicants remains a struggle. We see and feel fewer people out spending their money. Dining out has been scaled back.
Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional and Similar Organizations
  • Our outlook changed due to market fluctuations’ impact on our endowment.
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods
  • Supply-chain challenges continue but are moderating. Transportation costs are still very high. As fuel prices fall, I expect costs to come down.
Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers
  • Supply-chain issues and increasing prices of cars and parts have made the retail automobile business much tougher. [We are] still having delays on parts inventories and new-vehicle sales.
  • New-vehicle inventory reached its lowest level in August, as expected. We anticipate continuous improvement in the fourth quarter. [There is] continued pressure on margins as the cost of doing business increases. Revenues increased from the prior year, but net profits have declined. Once again, the Fed misreads the market. Increasing interest rates is not the answer to controlling inflation. Affordability becomes an issue for lower-income people. 
  • We continue to experience major labor shortages and vehicle production delays, transportation delays, etc. There is general supply-chain confusion. Auto manufacturers do not have a good handle on these problems, as shown by their surprise last-minute production cuts. Labor is not only difficult to hire, but we see a larger degree of apathy toward work quality and effort.
Electronics and Appliance Stores
  • Higher prices have slowed down sales.
Building Material and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers
  • Interest rates are going up too fast. We don’t think this will end well.
Health and Personal Care Stores
  • [There has been a] slight decrease in sales and profits, and the cost of goods is increasing every month.
Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument and Book Stores
  • Most changes are seasonal, as we are a seasonal business and are coming out of peak season but are not yet in the slow season.
Nonstore Retailers
  • The overall economic situation has us worried about the future.

Historical Data

Historical data can be downloaded dating back to January 2007.

Indexes

Download indexes for all indicators. For the definitions of all variables, see Data Definitions.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

Unadjusted Unadjusted
Seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted

All Data

Download indexes and components of the indexes (percentage of respondents reporting increase, decrease, or no change). For the definitions of all variables, see Data Definitions.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

Unadjusted Unadjusted
Seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted

Questions regarding the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey can be addressed to Christopher Slijk at christopher.slijk@dal.frb.org.

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