San Antonio economists told members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that San Antonio recovered from the recession faster because it didn’t suffer as great an impact as the rest of the nation, or even Texas.
Keith Phillips with the local branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said metropolitan statistical area's in Texas have recovered all of the jobs lost in the recession, and San Antonio suffered the least:
"San Antonio declined the least so it had the least far to go, but I think it regained second to Austin. Austin fell farther but it bounced back stronger," Phillips said.
"We've really seen job growth across the board," said Steve Nivin, chief economist for the SABÉR Research Institute.
He said hospitality is growing, as well as business services and even some areas that have shown marked negative growth over the past few years:
"We've even seen some growth in the information sector. When I say 'information,' I don't mean information technology, I mean the producers and distributors of information. So it's the newspaper and that kind of thing. So we're even starting to see some growth in that area," Nivin said.
Economists agree that even though lending is still tight due to increased regulations, housing has bounced back and is approaching a seller’s market.
