Boom in West Texas oil patch lifts wages, prices

[Gerald]

MIDLAND, Texas (Reuters) - (This May 1 story has been refiled to correct name of professor to Lutz Kilian, not Kilian Lutz, in thirteenth paragraph.)

In West Texas, rising oil prices are fueling a sharp economic upswing, lifting employment and pay to records, driving up spending at hotels, restaurants, and car dealerships, and raising the cost of housing and other essentials.

This parched patch of land, under which lies the largest oil-producing rock formations in the United States, is the epicenter of a growth binge that shows just how tight the link remains between low unemployment, rising wages, and upward pricing pressure.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN1I22TF

Hard to get on labor.