In the early 1960s, the largest U.S. astronautics center - Johnson Aerospace Center was established in the city of Houston. 7O's world oil prices soared, the city of Houston by virtue of the favorable conditions to become the "world's energy capital". However, due to the 198O U.S. recession, oil prices fell and other reasons, the city of Houston's economy suffered a serious setback, the unemployment rate was once as high as 1O%. Since then, the city of Houston is committed to changing the single oil industry, to diversify the development of its economy in the 8Os have recovered and developed. Into the 9Os, in the rest of the United States in the economic downturn, the city of Houston's economic growth momentum is still unabated, has gradually become one of the United States high-tech centers.
In 1994, the Greater Houston area's gross domestic product was $137.3 billion, with services, manufacturing, retail, transportation, and mining accounting for more than 75 percent of the value. Houston ranked 7th in the nation in manufacturing and 11th in retail trade.In 1997, the region provided 1.76 million jobs.
Houston is a major center for big business. Fifteen of the nation's 5OO largest companies are headquartered in Houston (including five of the world's 5OO largest companies). And many of the remaining large companies have their U.S. headquarters in Houston. In addition, three of the 1,OOO fastest-growing companies, according to 1995 Happiness magazine, have Houston as their home base. These rankings are based on sales and profit growth in recent years.
In 1994, Houston's manufacturing sector was valued at $21.875 billion, or 15.9 percent of Greater Houston's gross regional product. Major products include chemicals, gasoline, non-electrical machinery, oilfield equipment, food and metal products.
The city of Houston is the center of the oil and petrochemical industries in the United States. It is a leader in extraction, processing, transportation, market development, service, supply and technology. A pipeline thousands of miles long along the Texas Gulf Coast to more than 20O chemical plants, refineries, salt processing plants and distilleries connected. In 1994, 932,000 tons of plastic primary products were exported through the Port of Houston. Twenty-eight of the nation's 1OO largest energy companies are headquartered here, and more than 5,000 other companies are engaged in energy-related businesses. Houston is also a very important international financial and trade center, the world's largest 5O banks in nearly 4O set up branches or representative offices here.