Dr. Economy

Barton Smith's farewell forecast: Houston no longer in recession, but oil spillfallout looms

Houston’s economy has emerged from the recession and is inching upward in a steady recovery that is being fueled by higher oil prices and positive national trends, veteran Houston economist Dr. Barton Smith of the University of Houston’s Institute for Regional Forecasting analyses.

After losing some 100,000 jobs in 2009 – a disastrous year for the local economy – Houston appears to be adding about 1,000 jobs a month now, Smith said Thursday before a crowd of 1,000 business people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

“We are forecasting modest job growth for the rest of the year," Smith said. "But it will be positive.”

With the rising price of oil so far this year — it’s now over $80 a barrel — drilling for oil has picked up significantly, which is a boost for Houston’s economy, Smith said.

Improvement in the energy business will help Houston, although there is a dark, murky cloud on the horizon — the horrific BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Political backlash from the spill could put a damper on offshore drilling and hurt Houston oil companies and drilling supply businesses.

“I am deeply worried about the oil spill off the coast of Louisiana,” Smith said. “This is going to have negative political consequences — negative to Houston and negative to the nation.”

Houston’s real estate market is in fairly good shape because overbuilding was not as significant here as it was in some states, Smith said. Although a lot of construction jobs have been lost, home builders in Houston are poised for a recovery.

Most Houston homeowners did not lose huge amounts of home equity value in the recession, unlike homeowners in many cities, according to Smith. That should help give the local economy a stronger footing for a rebound.

“Houston home owners didn’t take a big hit in home equity,” Smith said. “Houston probably has fewer upside down mortgages than any city in the U.S.”

The speech was a farewell for Smith, who has been with the University of Houston for 37 years. He started his popular economic presentations in 1985, but he is retiring, and this was his final public symposium.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”