Page 16 - NBIZ Magazine February 2024

Houston were the favored destinations. The two metros relocation, with only information losing jobs. Professional
accounted for three-fifths of all jobs moving from other and business services as well as manufacturing were
states (Chart 5). responsible for close to half of moves.
Small Firms are More Mobile; Big Firms Bring
More Jobs
Not surprisingly, small businesses tend to be more
mobile than large firms. On average, 90 percent of busi-
nesses moving into or out of Texas were stand-alone,
single-establishment entities. They accounted for half of
net job migration to Texas. Establishments with fewer
than five workers constituted about 80 percent of all
businesses relocating to Texas but accounted for less than
14 percent of all jobs moving in (Chart 6).

The choice of large MSAs is driven not only by the
growth and relative size of these geographic areas but also
by population density, availability of an educated work-
force, diversity of industries, infrastructure and access to
good schools.
During the decade of the 2010s, Dallas, Houston, Fort
Worth and Austin ranked as the top four MSAs in Texas
in terms of the net migration rate of jobs from interstate
business relocation.

Most Job Gains in Professional Services and
Manufacturing The number of multi-establishment firms, those
Among the major employment sectors, professional and with multiple locations, relocating their headquarters
business services accounted for just less than 30 percent to Texas represented about 50 percent of employment
of the jobs associated with firm in-migration during moves. Large establishments with 1,000 or more workers
2010–19, followed by manufacturing (17.7 percent) and account for very few moves but about 15 percent of jobs
trade, transportation, and utilities (17.1 percent). These coming to Texas.
sectors also made up the bulk of jobs moving from Texas Overall, firms with fewer than 500 workers are respon-
during the same period (Table 1). Almost all major sectors sible for about three-quarters of jobs coming to Texas. The
experienced positive net job migration from business average establishment size of all in-migrating businesses

16 NBIZ ■ FEBRUARY 2024