Over the weekend, we took a comprehensive look at how the oil downturn was starting to eat away at the jobs that were supposed to be part of Houston's "new economy": Restaurants, retail, hospitality, real estate, and various professional services, which far outnumber the people who work for energy companies.

While helpful to have, those jobs largely depend on the spending power embodied in the area's "economic base," which includes industries that sell goods out of state -- natural resources and manufacturing, primarily. Other cities have different industries that make up their economic bases -- financial services in New York City, for example, and Hollywood in Los Angeles. In Houston, it's mostly oil and gas.

That's why it's so concerning to see the "base" jobs take such a hit -- and why it makes sense that the "non-base" jobs are starting to deflate as well, as you can see in this graph by assistant art director Charles Apple:

Over the past few months, the number of non-base jobs per base job has skyrocketed, suggesting that something's got to give, and that's what we're starting to see.