The Greater Houston area will continue to benefit from the region’s continued population growth even though oil prices will likely stay contained in the near future, according to an economic presentation made March 27 to the Missouri City City Council.

Jon Hockenyos, president of Austin-based public policy consulting firm TXP, told council members that service-related industries, such as food services and health care will do well, naming health care as one industry helping to pick up the slack in hiring from energy services amid the oil and gas downturn.

“Industries that serve consumers will continue to grow because people will continue to move here,” he said.

Like other municipalities, Missouri City can expect to see its sales tax revenue stay flat, as more purchases are made online and many of those purchases not subject to sales tax.

Missouri City’s unemployment rate ticked up in 2016, from 4.5 percent to 5.2 percent, reversing five consecutive years of drops that began when the rate was at a peak of 8.3 percent in 2010, the height of the global financial crisis.

Hockenyos said the increase was “consistent with the pattern of the overall regional economy.”