Report highlights Central Texas labor market, how to maintain strong work force

Sep 4, 2010

Austin American-Statesman

Workforce Solutions Capital Area and Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area, local nonprofits, recently produced their State of the Workforce Report, a snapshot of the Central Texas labor market that's meant to foster dialogue on how to nurture a competitive work force.

The report is also intended to highlight trends and disparities that have social and educational implications, as well as economic consequences.

Below is a condensed version of key sections of the report. The complete document can be found with this story online, or at http://bit.ly/ccMUtp.

The Austin-Round Rock metropolitan statistical area (Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties) is a rapidly growing region with an economy that is performing well compared with other U.S. regions.

However, there are underlying challenges that threaten the region's long-term stability.

Even during the recession, our area has fared much better than most. The jobless rate, though higher than it's been in more than 10 years, is well below state and national averages.

Still, the region faces challenges to its global competitiveness.

Significant disparities in education, income and employment exist between racial and ethnic groups and between men and women.

Too few students graduate high school, enter college and obtain the skills that meet the needs of our region in a globally competitive economy.


Targeted industries

Health care and biotechnology, green energy, and information technology (digital media and software development) are bringing new types of high-skill jobs to the region. A skills gap may be looming for employers in these industries. We are not adequately preparing our students for many of the occupations these industries offer, especially in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math.


Health care/biotechnology

Typically, when people think of health care, they think of hospitals. Hospitals are a major employer in Austin, but most health care jobs are outside of the institutional setting (doctor's offices, clinics, long-term care, etc.). Nurses, allied health occupations and administrative support staff are growth occupations in health care, and many require an associate degree or less.

Biotechnology is a rapidly emerging sector within the life sciences — by 2019, there will be more than 12,000 biotech jobs in the Austin metro area. Biotech includes research, development and/or manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical equipment and supplies. Technicians and engineers in biology, chemistry and electronics are demand occupations.


Digital media

The information technology sector has been a mainstay of the region's economic structure since the 1990s. More than two decades ago, Central Texas became a major hub for the manufacturing of semiconductors and computers. The industry is now shifting into relatively new and emerging sectors such as digital and creative media (game development in particular) as well as software development and related services.


Green energy

Predicting job growth in green energy is difficult, because many "green" jobs aren't new jobs at all but rather old jobs that require new, "green" skills. Electricians, for example, have been around for a long time, but now they need to learn solar technology so they can connect solar panels to the electrical grid — not a new job, but a new set of skills.

Consumer demand and public policy related to green energy will spur the creation of many new jobs, with a varying degree of "green" skills required. Many of these jobs fall into existing industry sectors such as construction, architecture, engineering and power generation. Employers in these industries will add almost 30,000 jobs (both traditional and "green") over the next 10 years — representing one-eighth of total job growth in the metropolitan statistical area. High-growth occupations in these areas include construction workers, sales and marketing personnel, heating and air-conditioning mechanics, electricians, electrical engineers and energy auditors.


Recommendations

To stimulate a regional dialogue on addressing the challenges facing the region, Workforce Solutions makes the following recommendations:

• We must align the education system (K-16) to the needs of the labor market.

• We should encourage school districts to place a greater emphasis on career and technology education.

• We need to incorporate work-based learning and internships into education programs.

• We should establish a regional career and technology training center.

• We need to help students, parents, teachers and counselors become more aware of the region's driver industries and the careers that are available.

• We must adopt new strategies to prevent students from dropping out of school and recover those who do.

• We need to increase minority participation in education and work force development and access to high-skill, high-demand jobs.

• We must develop strategies to encourage more students to enter post-secondary education in areas where labor supply is lagging.

• We need to establish a collaborative structure between education, work force development and economic development.


Workforce Solutions Capital Area (www.wfscapitalarea.com) and Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area (www.workforcesolutionsrca.com) describe their role as leading the region in the development of a world-class work force through strong partnerships and strategic collaboration. Their State of the Workforce Report relies on information from Economic Modeling Specialists Inc., IHS Global Insight, the Texas State Data Center, the Texas Workforce Commission, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Education.