LOCAL JOBS GROWTH | Over the last five years, the manufacturing and construction industries have seen gains in the number of people employed in the 10-county capital region of Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, Travis and Williamson.
Number of people employed
2017
2022
31,649
118,213
Information technology
Health care and social assistance
+48.55%
+12.01%
47,013
132,416
78,128
102,804
Educational services
Construction
+23.11%
+6.74%
96,552
109,735
61,642
117,654
Accommodation and food services
Manufacturing
+18.88%
+6.08%
73,279
124,812
SOURCE: TEXAS WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS RURAL CAPITAL AREA/COMMUNITY IMPACT
customer service represen- tatives and cashiers, accord- ing to data from the Texas Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area, which includes Williamson County. Workforce Solutions data shows several industries in the area have more qualified workers than job postings. Beyond manufacturing, other industries are adding thousands more jobs in the next two years and are in need of more skilled labor. They include construction, educational services and information. Reskilling and upskilling, the process of increasing a worker’s skill set to move up in their field or change indus- tries entirely, is a vital part of meeting the manufacturing industry demand, Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area CEO Paul Fletcher said. Fletcher said the mismatch of skills resulted from a lag in the education system’s preparation of graduates for the workforce. He said those who find themselves in a career requiring more than a high school diploma but less than a college degree may benefit the most from upskilling or reskilling. For adults who want to learn new trades or skills to seek a different job, there are several options available locally, such as Skillpoint Alliance. The nonprofit pro- vides free job training and certifications for trades such as electrician; plumbing; advanced manufacturing; and heating, ventilation and
Development Corp. Emerging industry
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WAGE GROWTH |
Central Texas, local economy experts project the influx of new industry-related jobs will grow by almost 30% within two years. About 70,000 existing man- ufacturing jobs throughout Central Texas are expected to grow to 90,000 by 2024 as new operations come online, said Ed Latson, executive director of the Austin Regional Manu- facturers Association during a Feb. 8 Pflugerville Commu- nity Development Corpora- tion workforce panel. Due in part to that rapid escalation, workforce devel- opment entities serving Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto are working to help meet coming staffing needs, Round Rock Chamber Presi- dent Jordan Robinson said. In addition to manufac- turing, health care, social assistance and food service industry occupations are also experiencing increases in the number of jobs com- ing to the area. Industry leaders predict that to meet the need, a com- bined effort to educate new workers as well as fundamen- tal changes to the way these professions are taught and presented within the local education system must be executed in a timely fashion. “There is an emerging cross section of economic development, workforce and education coming together in a real quick fashion,” said Amy Madison, the CEO of the Pflugerville Community
Several industries in the 10-county area have seen substantial wage growth as employers work to attract skilled talent.
Dave Porter, the director of the Williamson County Eco- nomic Development Partner- ship, said recent commitments from major manufacturers Samsung, Applied Materials and Valex, among others, to build facilities in the area are contributing to a regional shift in workforce training. Samsung alone will bring more than 10,000 jobs to Wil- liamson County at its new Taylor facility, according to the company. Porter said these jobs, such as those required for semi- conductor and electronic component, machinery and computer manufacturing, will help the region catch up to manufacturing needs on a national level. Madison echoed Porter and said the increased interest in domestic manufacturing in the Pflugerville-Hutto area is largely due to the availability of land and its proximity to roadways such as SH 130 and SH 45 N. “To have had so many large projects come all at once over a period of the past four years is really unheard of,” Madison said. “It puts Austin on the international scale easily in terms of manufacturing.” Mismatched skills The region has a growing problem of a skills gap in which workers have skills for jobs that do not exist or have reduced demand. Those include office clerks,
Information technology
$160K $140K $100K $120K 0
+43.62%
2019
2020
2021
2022
Professional, scientific and technical services
$145K $130K $100K $115K 0
+22.65%
2019
2020
2021
2022
Skilled manufacturing
$135K $120K $90K $105K 0
+16.61%
2019
2020
2021
2022
Skilled construction
$80K $70K $50K $60K 0
+15.76%
2019
2020
2021
2022
SOURCE: TEXAS WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS RURAL CAPITAL AREA/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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