Two years ago Texas had one of the nation’s lowest unemployment rates; today it is in 28th place. GREW BY: +2% +1.5% +1.0% +0.5 WEAKEST GROWTH DECLINE 0 TO +0.4% UP TO –6.5% TEXAS 0.4% D.C. MD. GREW BY: WEAKEST GROWTH DECLINE +2% 0 TO +0.5% UP TO –6.5% +1.5% +1.0% +0.5 HIGHEST: WASH. 3.7% D.C. TEXAS 0.4%The reason: the oil patch. For the first time in years, Texas tumbled out of the top two most desirable states for business in CNBC’s annual survey of executives. It lost, but not before it had pitted Republicans against AT&T, American Airlines, Dell, Google, the major oil companies, Southwest Airlines and the Texas Association of Business.

Source: New York Times September 22, 2017 14:48 UTC