US Economy: Texas Projected To Lose More Than 1 Million Jobs Due To Coronavirus, Oil Surplus

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Economic analyst firm The Perryman Group projects Texas could lose over 1.1 million energy jobs by the end of 2020 in its latest report
The biggest drivers for this is the coronavirus pandemic, which has also caused an oil surplus from people remaining home during quarantine
Perryman says that given the stable economy going into the pandemic, Texas can recover in a reasonable amount of time

An economic report released Wednesday estimated that Texas could lose 1.1 million jobs due to fallout from the coronavirus. Texas-based economic analyst firm The Perryman Group noted that it could take "several years" for recovery.

The report said Texas is set to be one of the hardest-hit states due to instability in the energy market. The Perryman Group projected Texas would lose 861,000 jobs in 2020, a 6.48% decrease, and $133.8 billion in output, down 7.6%.

While President Trump was able to strike a deal with Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut oil production for a few months, there is a surplus supply of oil due to lower demand.

“Activity is in free fall in North America and is slowing down internationally,” Halliburton CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller said during a Monday call with investors.

“We cannot predict the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on demand or the pace of any subsequent recovery. At a minimum, we expect the decline in activity to continue through year-end.”

BW Research said in its job loss report that Texas accounted for 22,000 of 123,100 job losses within the traditional energy space in March.

Weatherford International, an oil-field service company based in Houston, is one such company that was forced to make significant cuts to its workforce. The company said Thursday it would be cutting around 25% of its 24,000 person workforce.

Despite the poor outlook for the rest of 2020, Perryman said it was positive for the “long-term outlook” for both the U.S. and Texas. It credits this to a stable economy going into the coronavirus pandemic that should help the state recover “in a reasonable amount of time.”