We have now surpassed our previous peak employment levels. 1  For non-Texans, Sam Houston was the first and third president of the Republic of Texas (1836–38 and 1841–44); Mirabeau B. Lamar was the second president of the Republic of Texas (1838–41). BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Only two other states can claim they surpassed previous peak employment levels: Alaska and North Dakota. I do not wish to denigrate the good people of Alaska and North Dakota, but note that their combined population roughly equals that of Travis County. Readers of this speech abroad – say, in New York – might think our growth last year came only from the burgeoning oil and gas patch. They would be right to describe it as burgeoning: 30,000 jobs were added in the oil and gas and related support sector last year, an increase of 15 percent. But other sectors outperformed oil and gas in the number of jobs created in Texas in 2011: 58,000 jobs were added in the professional and business services areas, nearly 46,000 in education and health services and over 41,000 in leisure and hospitality. All told, the private sector in Texas expanded by 266,400 jobs, while the public sector, driven primarily by fewer schoolteachers, contracted by 54,800 jobs. In sum, Texas payrolls grew 2 percent, significantly above the national rate of 1.3 percent. This performance is not unique to last year.
While this share was around 8 percent in the early 1980s, it is expected to increase to 30 percent in the middle of this decade. Although the above evidence has indicated that Asia is on the rise, whether or not this rise will be sustained will depend on a number of factors. To do so, Asia needs to become a global innovation hub, and rely significantly more on our own domestic and regional demand. Moreover, we also need to assess whether prosperity will spread to all of the regional economies. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Ladies and Gentlemen, Against this hopeful background, we need to reflect on the positioning of Thailand. As longterm business partners in Thailand, I am certain that Japanese businesses have carefully assessed the prospects of Thai economy in comparison with our peers in the region. And, I think we share a common view that Thailand needs to climb up the value chain in order to benefit from the expansion of the regional production network. This is a very important challenge as competitiveness from low labor costs will evaporate, and there is a risk of being marginalized in the increasingly competitive environment. Recognizing that Thailand needs to come up with concrete plans and strategies to foster capacities and productivity, the Bank of Thailand has emphasized on various occasions that our economy needs to have a clear development strategy. In fact, several Asian countries have already announced goals ranging from becoming world leaders in science, technology or human resource development.