Southeast Texas P-16 Council

Occupations in Southeast Texas

Trabajos, la Economía y el Suroeste de Tejas (this page en Español)

• graphed by education level, wages
• fastest growing
• with the most projected openings
• projected to add the most new jobs

Jobs Outlook

Salary Survey: Winter 2010 -- National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)
First Look Shows Salary Offers Down for Class of 2010: Average salary offers to new college graduates in the Class of 2010 have dipped slightly compared to salaries reported a year ago. Currently, the overall average offer to a bachelor’s degree graduate is $48,351, down 2 percent from the average offer of $49,353 made to Class of 2009 bachelor’s degree graduates.

The Top 50 industries (business) in Southeast Texas by average number of job openings  shows that just a few industry types have large number of openings.  The Texas Workforce Commision site, from which these nubmers were drawn, lists 69 different industry type -- the smallest types of industries are suppressed in this data for confidentiality. The 69 industries listed, however, account for 99.6% of all the job openings in the Southeast Texas Region for the year covered in the statistics.

source: http://www.texasindustryprofiles.com/apps/led/IndustryFocus.asp

Rate of new hires in Texas Jan 2006-Jan, 2010

Texas New Hire Rate -- Jan 2006 -Jan 2010

If you divide the number of new hires in Texas by the total of those employed, you get the New Hire Rate.  The rate goes up in good times  -- industries are expanding and taking on new workers.   In times of recessions and downturns, the rate plummets  -- business cannot afford to bring on as many new workers.

You can see from the chart on the right that the Texas New Hire Rate has been trending mostly down since about September of 2008.

The recent bottom was was in December when the number of new hires was just above 184,000. January showed signs of starting a rebound, thought the number of new hires was far below the average for the last few years.

The highest three months for new hires were
Aug-07 343,276
Aug-06 341,363
Aug-08 340,282
August was also the highest month for new hires in 2009, though the number of new hires was well below 300,000.
August is the month when schools systems hire for the new year.

Average Wages in Southeast Texas

The media cash salary of all workers in the  Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX metropolitan statistical area is  $29,494 or $14.18 per hour. The median wage is the 50th percentile wage estimate--50 percent of workers earn less than the median and 50 percent of workers earn more.

Half of the people in the MSA  earn between $18,659 ($8.97 per hour) and $46,963 ($22.58 per hour)(i.e., between the 25th and 75th percentiles).

An entry level worker can expect to earn $16,405 ($7.89 per hour).

An experienced worker can expect to earn $47,392 ($22.78 per hour), though this varies by industry  (Texas Workforce Commission figures)

These estimates are based on 1548 mail surveys of establishments in the area taken through November, 2008 and have a relative standard error of 1.70%.

Quarterly Employment Dynamics for the three-county Southeast Texas Region

The Texas Workforce Commission keeps statistics on a quarterly basis from the Local Employment Dynamics system of the Bureau of Labor.   These statistics can show how turbulent or stable the economy is through numbers of jobs, job hires, separations and job creations for the quarter compared to the three prior quarters.  These statistics are from the first quarter of 2009 (latest available when this was put on this web page in April of 2010.  More up to date figures as well as data from past years is available on the Texas Industry Profile site (Texas Workforce Commission):  http://www.texasindustryprofiles.com/apps/led/QWI.asp

Age Group = 14-99; Geographic Grouping = metro; Metro = Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX; Industry = All NAICS Sectors; Owner = All (1-5); Quarter = Q1; Sex = Male and Female; State = Texas; Year = 2009;

Statistics are also available on the Local Employment Dynamics page for broad industry catergories -- such as this table on Manufacturing in the Hardin, Jefferson and Orange counties for the first quarter of 2009.

Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), 2010-11 Edition -- Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics
For hundreds of different types of jobs—such as teacher, lawyer, and nurse—the Occupational Outlook Handbook tells you:

1. the training and education needed
2. earnings
3. expected job prospects
4. what workers do on the job
5. working conditions

In addition, the Handbook gives you job search tips, links to information about the job market in each State, and more. You can also view frequently asked questions about the Handbook.

Entergy, Texas maintains this economy page on the Southeast Texas region.

A chart of on the population history of Southeast Texas from 1970 to January, 2010.

The recent Labor Market Statistics (Karen Bourdier with Entergy keeps us supplied with the latest version).  Back issues and more information on the economy of Southeast Texas is at STEDF.org

The recent Workforce Development Area Labor Market Statistics-- this is the same area as the report above  -- Hardin, Jefferson and Orange Counties -- but the statistics on the report include different measures.