Eagle Ford Shale jobs have posted major gains over the past year and optimism in the economy is spreading throughout San Antonio. Even with the obstacles the U.S. faces as a country, South Texas is poised for growth.  Only one in nine businesses in a recent survey expects business to slow in the coming year and only one expects the economy to stay flat. The rest are expecting higher demand for products and services. An interesting note from the story is that the one company that expects the economy to stay flat hired 13 employees in the past year! If that is a sign of things to come, South Texas might benefit from the Eagle Ford Shale Oil boom for many years to come.

The association's 2011 Mid-Year Economic Report found that 58 percent expect the economy to remain flat in the coming year, and 30 percent — more than twice the number counted in a similar survey last December — felt it would fall back into recession.

Texas' and San Antonio's economies have outperformed the nation's during the recession, however, and area business owners have been quick to acknowledge their good fortunes.

Only one of the nine businesses asked to assess their prospects in the coming year was pessimistic, and a second one, Metropolitan Contracting Co., said the coming year should be stable.

But Tim Swan, CEO of Metropolitan, said that's not bad news because his business picked up last October, enough for the contractor to add about 13 employees this year.