ODESSA, Texas (Big 2/Fox 24) – Texas held their annual State of Business Summit Thursday. The virtual conference covered topics from the State of relocation to the future of aerospace in our state.

Ed Curtis, the CEO of Y Texas said, “Texas is so connected, our economy is so connected and again what made this event so different is we had people from San Antonio and Houston and Austin and Dallas sitting on a panel talking about what they are seeing.”

Research from the Texas Workforce Commission says that the overall unemployment rate is going down in our State but smaller cities are having a harder time bouncing back.

Odessa, for example, is sitting at an 11.1% unemployment rate which is an improvement from last month’s 12.7% rate but still far off from where we were last year.

Midland is currently at an 8.1% unemployment rate which is slightly better than last month’s 9.5% rate.

“One of the biggest challenges we are going to have is having an educated workforce and making sure that those underserved communities are getting lifted up as we enter this next decade,” said Curtis.

Adriana Cruz, the Governor’s Executive Director, said despite the slow comeback in some areas texas is still the place to be when opening or relocating a business.

“Low taxes, no regulations, it’s centrally located, all those terms you hear they are all valid terms but at the end of the day it comes down to people and I just think it’s this special way that people and companies in texas collaborate and network and help each other out,” said Curtis.

Tickets to this Summit were $50, Curtis said they are going to use the money raised for future business development programs.