International telecom firm Nokia is bringing more than 2,000 workers to the Cypress Waters development. Nokia will relocate its North American headquarters and workers from Las Colinas and Plano to the development north of LBJ Freeway near Belt Line Road. "They've leased 350,000 square feet in two buildings," said Cypress Waters developer Lucy Billingsley. "They are taking one whole building with 250,000 square feet and 100,000 square feet in another." Nokia's new office will be the biggest job center in the 1,000-acre Cypress Waters, which is one of the Dallas-Fort Worth area's most successful developments. "They will be moving into the 100,000 square feet in January and the next 250,000 square feet in June," Billingsley said. The new buildings at 3100 and 3201 Olympus Boulevard are on the south shore of North Lake in a mixed-use project called The Sound.
Dallas continues to add over 100,000 jobs annually and the unemployment rate has remained at 3.6 percent, a very low level not seen in the past 20 years. While the outlook is for continued rapid growth in the region, it depends critically on a steady flow of workers into the state and on trade-friendly policies. Already the fourth largest metro area, Dallas-Fort Worth is growing faster than the nation — about 2 percentage points faster so far this year. However, this outsized performance is only possible with robust labor force expansion. The D-FW labor force increased 3.1 percent over the past year, while the participation rate — the share of people working or seeking employment — was little changed. Thus, the bulk of workforce growth is due to migration. Net migration from other U.S. states was responsible for 40 percent of D-FW's population increase in 2017, while arrivals from other countries accounted for 20 percent. In fact, since 2010, D-FW has had the highest population gains from total net migration among all U.S. metro areas.