The Texas small business forecast for 2022 is a bright one, at least in the long term, as short-term challenges continue to loom. The outlook for economic growth through the rest of this year and into 2022 has strengthened despite global supply chain constraints. Despite these difficulties, regional activity accelerated sharply in September and October following a summer peak tied to COVID-19 waves from Delta variant infections.

The Texas small business forecast for 2022 is expected to gain some substantial momentum going into next year, particularly in the second to third quarters. Texas payrolls have been on an upward trajectory in recent months, with September’s 8.8% growth rate marking a sharp annual increase from August’s 3%. The state also managed to outpace all other states during this time frame by growing 6-fold over the last three quarters by approximately 6%.

The September jobs report showed that growth was broad-based across most industries, with leisure and hospitality leading the way. Construction payrolls also rose 18% year over year in a positive sign for builders who are still struggling from last summer’s shutdowns. Leisure employment increased an annualized 22%. This is due to population growth, as well as higher levels of activity, such as retail sales or tourism spending, which have all been strong indicators recently.

The most significant advances in the Lone Star economy occurred across a variety of sectors. Trade, transportation, and utilities (10%) saw strong growth over last year’s level; professional services such as engineering (8.9%), accounting, or law contributed 6%, while finance has increased 5%.