Economic Trends and Outlook
Based on the Comptroller’s new 13-region economic model of Texas, employment in the Northwest Texas region (covering a 30-county area surrounding the Abilene and Wichita Falls metropolitan areas from the Red River to the Colorado River) is projected to grow at a 1 percent annual rate, about the same growth rate seen in the region since 1995. By 2005, total employment in the Northwest Texas region should reach more than 338,900 and should add an average of more than 4,800 jobs each year from 2002 to 2005.Based on historical data since 1970, the Comptroller projects stable economic growth for the region. During the next five years, the Northwest Texas region should add jobs at about the same rate it has during the last 30 years. The primary challenge for this region is providing the educational skills needed to train its work force to meet the changing needs of business in an internet economy.
This report details recent economic changes in the Northwest Texas region, presents “baseline” economic forecasts for key indicators through 2005, discusses the structural changes that have led and will lead to economic growth in the region, presents a forecast for occupational changes likely in the region over the next five years and identifies possible target industries for future development. Economic development leaders within the region should use this report to guide development of the region’s economy in upcoming years.
The Last 30 Years
The Northwest Texas region, surrounding Abilene and Wichita Falls, saw significant growth during the last 30 years of the 20th century. In real terms (1992 dollars), gross regional product in this region—the sum total of all value added within the region—grew by 72 percent from $7.5 billion in 1970 to $12.8 billion in 2000 (Graph 1). This is an average annual growth rate of 1.8 percent.
During this time, the population of the Northwest Texas region also grew, rising from 485,700 to 530,700. As a result of growth in the value of production in the region and somewhat slower population growth, per capita real incomes rose dramatically over the last 30 years. For example, in real terms (1992 dollars), disposable personal income—income not used to pay federal taxes—rose from $12,000 in 1970 to $21,600 in 2000. This means that the average person or household in the region has 80 percent more real purchasing power in 2000 than they did in 1970.
In terms of jobs, growth in this region was good during much of the 1970s and very early 1980s. Following the collapse in world oil prices in the early 1980s, the Northwest Texas region’s economy drifted slowly downward before resuming growth again in 1993. In addition to severe economic shocks in the oil and gas economy which saw a halving of oil services employment between 1985 and 1990, falling from 24,500 jobs to 12,200, the region also suffered some military job losses as the result of base realignments from 1986 to 1988. Since 1992, the region has seen some good job growth with employment rising at a 1.8 percent rate through 2000.
These growth rates determine if the region is playing a larger role in the Texas economy. Largely because of exceptionally rapid economic growth in some parts of the state, the size of the Northwest Texas region, in terms of population employment and gross regional product, has declined in comparison to the state as a whole. In 1970, this region accounted for 4.6 percent of the state’s employment, 4.3 percent of the state’s population and 3.9 percent of the gross regional product. By 2000, the Northwest Texas region accounted for 2.6 percent of both employment and population, and 2.1 percent of gross regional product (Graph 2).
Shifting Growth Patterns
Even within slowly growing economies, important structural shifts occur over time. These shifts often result from regional and even nationwide changes in production, consumption and technology. Understanding these shifts can help identify prospects for future growth within the region.
Table 2 presents the historical employment figures for the Northwest Texas region for 18 broad industries in 1980, 1990 and 2000. [1] These industries correspond to a functional classification of activities within the region rather than one more traditionally defined through Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes usually used to examine the economic structure of a region. The sectors in this table are ranked according to the average annual growth rate in employment over the last 20 years.
TABLE 2
Northwest Texas Region Employment and Growth
1980-2000
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Employment in Region Average
Annual
Growth Rate1980 1990 2000 Services to Business 6,493 14,055 13,668 3.8% Healthcare 14,499 23,082 28,166 3.4% State Government 7,413 8,673 11,600 2.3% Tourism and Entertainment 16,639 18,178 24,042 1.9% Local Government 23,162 25,032 32,302 1.7% Personal Services 11,878 12,695 15,133 1.2% Other Services 12,252 13,125 14,568 0.9% Finance, Insurance and Real Estate 16,461 14,849 19,105 0.7% Construction, Building Materials 19,231 15,281 21,595 0.6% Agriculture, Agr-Related, Ag Processing 32,778 30,477 35,685 0.4% Other Durable Goods Manufacturing 8,487 7,958 8,925 0.3% Wholesale and Retail Trade 42,850 39,507 43,846 0.1% Other Transportation and Public Utilities 8,471 8,208 7,806 (0.4)% Federal Government 5,760 5,115 5,252 (0.5)% High Tech, Communications, Aviation and Electronics 6,528 6,842 5,932 (0.5)% Other Non-Durable Goods Manufacturing 7,732 6,127 4,888 (2.3)% Other 845 581 512 (2.5)% Oil and Gas Production, Refining and Petrochemicals 31,966 22,593 15,475 (3.6)% Topping this list is business services. This growth is largely the result of a long-term reorganization of many existing businesses that increasingly rely on outsourcing. The post-World War II model of industrial organization continues to divide as more and more responsibilities that were previously held within the structure of the parent firm are now outsourced to other companies. In the case of responsibilities such as janitorial services, this is a trend toward specialization. In the case of copy machine repair or training personnel to use new computer programs, outsourcing is driven by increasing technological sophistication as specially trained workers are needed to operate equipment. Increased use of contract workers that may replace full-time employees is direct outsourcing and drives the growth of business services employment because some of these contract workers are provided through temporary help agencies.
To a large extent the increasing use of contract labor is merely a reshuffling of employment opportunities from other sectors (manufacturing in particular) to this sector. As such, this shift represents a positive change in the productivity and competitiveness of these businesses rather than degradation of manufacturing capacity.
The second fastest growing industry is health care. Here, national trends are dominating regional growth. As incomes grow and as populations age, more and more is spent on health care. The increasing technological sophistication of health care, while improving the effectiveness of health care, also drives up costs. Unfortunately, because health care is a service that most often must be administered by trained professionals on a one-on-one basis, the ability of technological innovations to lower personnel requirements—a biproduct of technology seen in many other industries—has not been as broadly felt in health care. As a result, the demand for health care services has risen rapidly over the past 20 years.
State government is the third fastest growing sector in the region. This largely stems from increased prison employment and growth at area higher educational institutions.
The fourth fastest growing sector is tourism and entertainment reflecting increasing wealth. With rising incomes consumers often have more leisure time—or at least more money to spend on leisure and entertainment. Rising real incomes are behind many of the gains in this sector as local residents spend more in the region on entertainment, and tourists from other regions visit the area.
Growth in local government is driven by local population growth and administrative changes. Important in this regard is shrinking elementary and secondary class sizes, which serve to drive job growth even if population were to remain unchanged, which it did not.
At the other end of the growth spectrum are the areas in which the region has lost ground. In some cases, such as in the oil and gas industry, this is part of a much wider trend brought on by the distribution of natural resources and industry consolidation. While it may be surprising to see the high tech industry rated low on this list in light of its growth elsewhere duing this time period, in part this is the result of two different trends. Some areas of high tech, like aerospace, have seen some job losses. Yet, other parts of high tech, in particular computer programming and data processing, have been consistent sources of job growth. The net total of these two trends has been high tech about holding its own in the Northwest Texas region over the past 20 years.
Identifying Regional Comparative Advantage
One key to understanding how a region’s economy grows and evolves is to examine what unique advantages the region provides to certain industries and how those industries have fared over time.
One device for identifying and summarizing the industries in which a region specializes is through a “location quotient.” This descriptive statistic identifies which industries are unique to a region by comparing the percentage of employment in each industry in the region to the percentage of employment that the same industry accounts for in the nation as a whole. If an industry accounts for more of the region’s total employment than it does of the nation’s, the region is seen as specializing in that industry. Moreover, because the industry has flourished in the region, the region is said to have demonstrated a comparative advantage for that industry. In practice, the percentage of an industry in the region’s employment base must usually greatly exceed the national percentage for the industry to be considered truly unique to the region.
The industries with location quotients greater than 1.5 in 2000 in the Northwest Texas region are identified in Table 3 along with the national employment growth rates from 1990 to 2000 of these industries. This list contains industries that are typically found in any list of industries unique to Texas as well as many industries that are unique to the Northwest Texas region.
TABLE 3
Location Quotients for Key Industries
in the Northwest Texas Region
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Location
QuotientNational Employment
Average Annual
Growth Rate
1990-2000Oil and Gas Field Services 20.0 (0.8)% Crude Petroleum, Natural Gas and Gas Liquids 15.0 (4.9)% Wood Buildings and Mobile Homes 6.5 5.7% Pipelines, Except Natural Gas 6.2 (2.8)% Glass and Glass Products 6.1 (0.9)% Stone, Clay, and Misc. Mineral Products 5.0 (0.8)% Farm 4.8 (0.1)% Hydraulic Cement 4.3 (1.0)% Iron and Steel Foundries 4.1 0.1% Footwear, Except Rubber and Plastic 3.4 (8.6)% Metal Cans and Shipping Containers 2.7 (3.3)% Concrete, Gypsum, and Plaster Products 2.6 0.9% Grain Mill Products and Fats and Oils 2.4 (0.2)% Cutlery, Hand Tools, and Hardware 2.4 0.1% Miscellaneous Electrical Equipment 2.3 (1.3)% Nonferrous Rolling and Drawing 2.2 (0.3)% Electrical Repair Shops 2.2 1.4% Fabricated Structural Metal Products 2.1 1.3% Health Services 2.0 5.8% Plumbing and Nonelectric Heating Equipment 1.9 0.1% Funeral Service and Crematories 1.8 2.3% Nursing and Personal Care Facilities 1.8 2.4% Agricultural Services 1.7 4.4% Agricultural Chemicals 1.7 (0.9)% Railroad Equipment 1.6 1.4% Office and Misc. Furniture and Fixtures 1.6 1.1% Video Tape Rental 1.6 2.1% Gas Utilities 1.5 (2.2)% Electric Utilities 1.5 (2.4)% Miscellaneous Equipment Rental and Leasing 1.5 2.4% Prominent in this list are industries related to oil and gas drilling. These activities have been mainstays of the Northwest Texas economy for some time. But, as indicated by the negative growth rate in employment in these industries in the U.S. from 1990 to 2000, employment in these industries has been in decline for some time, going back to the early 1980s.
The region is an important center of the manufactured housing industry, and this sector has enjoyed some strong growth throughout the nation during the 1990s.
Overall, the profile of industries that the Northwest Texas region tends to specialize in is varied, displaying a certain level of diversification in the local economy. In some cases the recent national growth history for these industries has been good, such as in the case of health services, nursing services and agricultural services.
Unfortunately, some of the industries in the Northwest Texas region that have grown there due to the region’s unique attributes in the past are unlikely to be able to carry the region further into the next millennium. In particular, the oil and gas industry and sectors related to construction and footwear have not created many new jobs over the past decade.
But while the location quotient is a useful measure to summarize the industries in which the region specialized in the past, it is a static measure. A more dynamic approach looks at the growth of industries in the region and compares that growth to what might have been expected had the industries followed the same growth pattern of these industries in other parts of the nation. This dynamic approach to looking at the region’s economic structure is known as shift-share analysis.
Like the location quotient, the approach in shift-share analysis is to develop a standard through which to assess if the currently observed level of industry concentration in a region is higher than expected, about what should be expected, or less than expected. If local employment is greater than might otherwise be expected, then the region has demonstrated some strength in attracting the growth of that industry. In practice, the yardstick usually employed is changes in each industry in the national economy, modified somewhat for local conditions.
One result of shift-share analysis is the “regional industry growth differential.” This measure is the ratio of what employment in an industry in the region actually was in the most recent period divided by what industry employment would have been if it had historically grown at the same rate as the industry did across the nation. The interpretation of this measure of dynamic growth potential is that it represents the number of times larger (or smaller) actual employment is in the most recent time period compared to what it would have been if the industry had grown at the same rate as the industry did across the nation. In practice, industries identified as unique in the region through the location quotient measure tend to be those that have demonstrated a sustained period of economic strength in the region, whereas those identified by the growth differential measure can be those starting to show some emerging strength.
Table 4 presents the industries in the Northwest Texas region that have a regional industry growth differential greater than 1.25 and employed at least 200 workers in 2000. The average annual rate of employment growth in the industry from 1980 to 2000 in the Northwest Texas region is also shown. The 1.25 cut-off point indicates that industry employment in 2000 in the region was 25 percent larger than would have been expected based on the industry’s employment in 1980 and the growth of the region and industry nationwide from 1980 to 2000. In the same sense as with the static location quotient, these industries have demonstrated a significant level of concentration over time in the Northwest Texas region and show that this region has some comparative advantage in their development.
TABLE 4
Industry Growth Differentials in the Northwest Texas Region
for Industries with at least 200 Employees in 2000
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Industry Regional
Industry Growth
DifferentialAverage Annual
Employment Growth
1980 -2000Motor Vehicles and Equipment 2.97 5.4% Office and Misc. Furniture and Fixtures 2.74 6.1% Footwear, Except Rubber and Plastic 2.47 (4.5)% Nonferrous Rolling and Drawing 1.87 0.6% Iron and Steel Foundries 1.87 (0.5)% Concrete, Gypsum, and Plaster Products 1.63 1.7% Glass and Glass Products 1.63 0.0% Stone, Clay, and Misc. Mineral Products 1.63 0.1% Farm 1.58 (0.0)% Local and Interurban Passenger Transit 1.50 4.2% Aerospace 1.49 (0.8)% Cutlery, Hand Tools, and Hardware 1.45 (0.5)% Fabricated Structural Metal Products 1.45 0.4% Plumbing and Nonelectric Heating Equipment 1.45 (0.3)% Job Training and Related Services 1.38 3.9% Child Day Care Services 1.38 4.6% Membership Organizations 1.38 2.6% Individual and Miscellaneous Social Services 1.38 4.7% Residential Care 1.37 7.2% Insurance Agents, Brokers, and Services 1.33 2.5% Insurance Carriers 1.33 1.5% Wood Buildings and Mobile Homes 1.33 2.6% Nursing and Personal Care Facilities 1.27 3.0% Hospitals 1.27 2.0% Offices of Health Practitioners 1.27 4.0% Health Services 1.27 7.4% There is some overlap between this list and Table 3, but it is far from complete. The region has shown some strength in attracting parts of the automobile business and in office furniture. In several cases, the region displays some attractiveness to industries that have declined both within the region and nationally, but because the decline has been much less severe within Northwest Texas, these industries appear as possible sources of economic strength on the growth-oriented shift-share approach.
Overall, there does appear to be some significant trends toward diversification of the industrial base of the Northwest Texas region including industries involved in international trade and many industries that require more highly skilled workers.
Table 4 confirms some of the comparative advantages identified in the location quotient and helps identify others. Measures such as the location quotient or the industry growth differential identify industries for which the Northwest Texas region has demonstrated a comparative advantage. These industries define the competitive character of the region, and these measures will be used in the last section of this report to help identify industries with strong potential to help the region grow in the future.
Growth Forecasts Through 2005
Forecasted changes in the statewide economy and the strong theoretical framework of the 13-region Texas model allow the estimation of baseline forecasts of growth for each region in Texas. Overall, depending on the measure used, the Northwest Texas region during the first five years of the new millenium is expected to grow at about the same rate as it did during the last five years of the 1990s. Through 2005, real gross regional product in the region—the total value added through production within the region—should expand at a 1.3 percent annual rate, from $12.8 billion in 1992 dollars in 2000 to $13.7 billion in 2005.
Through 2005, employment growth in the Northwest Texas region should average 1 percent annually, about the same growth rate posted from 1995 to 2000 in the region. The region should add about 16,000 additional jobs from 2000 to 2005, rising from 322,900 in 2000 to 338,900 in 2005. As expected across the state, this rate of growth will be slowest during the next couple of years but will accelerate into 2004 and 2005.
The employment growth seen in the region will not fall evenly across all industries, but there are two ways to look at the distribution of this growth. Table 5 presents the 25 top growth industries in the region in terms of the number of new jobs they will generate between 2000 and 2005. Large industries dominate this list because even low growth rates applied to a large employment base generate large numbers of new jobs. In fact, two of the top three industries listed in Table 5 are actually projected to grow slower than the overall regional wide average from 2000 to 2005. But, because these two industries (retail trade and local government) are large employers, they will generate a large number of jobs, even at modest growth rates.
TABLE 5
Northwest Texas Industries Adding the Most Jobs
Between 2000 and 2005
(Projected)
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Regional Employment Jobs
AddedAverage
Annual
Growth2000 2005 1 Retail Trade, Exc. Eating and Drinking Places 34,250 35,832 1,582 0.9% 2 Health Services 5,323 6,752 1,429 4.9% 3 Local Government 32,420 33,724 1,304 0.8% 4 Eating and Drinking Places 16,518 17,636 1,118 1.3% 5 Construction 15,646 16,623 977 1.2% 6 Personnel Supply Services 4,062 4,989 927 4.2% 7 Communications 2,352 3,244 892 6.6% 8 State Government 11,642 12,517 875 1.5% 9 Educational Services 5,096 5,891 795 2.9% 10 Wholesale Trade 9,596 10,268 672 1.4% 11 Miscellaneous Business Services 2,749 3,383 634 4.2% 12 Automobile Parking, Repair, and Services 3,026 3,653 627 3.8% 13 Offices of Health Practitioners 4,725 5,218 493 2.0% 14 Trucking and Warehousing 4,662 5,149 487 2.0% 15 Miscellaneous Plastics Products 1,637 2,081 444 4.9% 16 Membership Organizations 5,818 6,261 443 1.5% 17 Amusement and Recreation Services 3,128 3,561 433 2.6% 18 Child Day Care Services 2,377 2,789 412 3.2% 19 Nursing and Personal Care Facilities 6,172 6,580 408 1.3% 20 Hotels and Other Lodging Places 1,925 2,307 382 3.7% 21 Management and Public Relations 1,675 2,044 369 4.1% 22 Insurance Agents, Brokers, and Services 2,544 2,878 334 2.5% 23 Residential Care 917 1,235 318 6.1% 24 Services to Buildings 1,646 1,923 277 3.2% 25 Computer and Data Processing Services 480 748 268 9.3% Many of the industries generating large numbers of new jobs in the Northwest Texas region through 2005 will be driven by changes in consumer expenditure patterns that have been seen over the past few years. For example, there is a continued shift toward expenditures on consumer services such as restaurants, health services, and child care. Many of the industries supplying these services employ a large number of people, so that even modest growth in the demand for these industries can result in some sizeable employment growth. But in the case of health services, an expected 4.9 percent annual growth applied to a sizeable employment base will generate a substantial number of new jobs.
Also fueling strong growth will be services provided to business, including personnel supply services, building services, management and public relations and miscellaneous business services. This will help existing firms continue to improve productivity through outsourcing jobs, a strong trend seen in the business community over the past 20 years. Increased trade with Mexico will also likely fuel growth in trucking and warehousing activity.
A ranking of industries by their likely growth rate from 2000 to 2005, detailed in Table 6, reveals some of the forces driving changes in the Northwest Texas region. More technical, higher skilled workers are needed in these industries. Topping this list of high-growth industries is computer and data processing services, followed by communications, health practitioners, and management and public relations—all industries relying on a well-trained, highly educated work force.
TABLE 6
25 Fastest Growing Industries in the Northwest Texas Region
2000 to 2005
(Projected)
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Regional Employment Jobs
GainedGrowth 2000 2005 1 Computer and Data Processing Services 480 748 268 9.3% 2 Communications 2,352 3,244 892 6.6% 3 Residential Care 917 1,235 318 6.1% 4 Water and Sanitation 228 297 69 5.4% 5 Miscellaneous Plastics Products 1,637 2,081 444 4.9% 6 Health Services 5,323 6,752 1,429 4.9% 7 Miscellaneous Business Services 2,749 3,383 634 4.2% 8 Personnel Supply Services 4,062 4,989 927 4.2% 9 Iron and Steel Foundries 973 1,189 216 4.1% 10 Management and Public Relations 1,675 2,044 369 4.1% 11 Miscellaneous Equipment Rental and Leasing 1,023 1,246 223 4.0% 12 Individual and Miscellaneous Social Services 1,203 1,459 256 3.9% 13 Automobile Parking, Repair, and Services 3,026 3,653 627 3.8% 14 Hotels and Other Lodging Places 1,925 2,307 382 3.7% 15 Rubber Products and Plastic Hose and Footwear 250 297 47 3.5% 16 Child Day Care Services 2,377 2,789 412 3.2% 17 Services to Buildings 1,646 1,923 277 3.2% 18 Educational Services 5,096 5,891 795 2.9% 19 Job Training and Related Services 229 264 35 2.9% 20 Plumbing and Nonelectric Heating Equipment 205 235 30 2.8% 21 Meat Products 919 1,050 131 2.7% 22 Amusement and Recreation Services 3,128 3,561 433 2.6% 23 Insurance Carriers 1,247 1,413 166 2.5% 24 Insurance Agents, Brokers, and Services 2,544 2,878 334 2.5% 25 Manufactured Products 384 434 50 2.5% The importance of education and the need for work force training is most apparent when looking at how projected industrial growth translates into occupational change. Table 7 presents the forecast for the 25 occupations expected to add the most positions over the next five years. As in the case of the 25 industries adding the most jobs, this list tends to be dominated by occupations that employ a lot of people at the start of the forecast period, and grow moderately thereafter.
TABLE 7
Occupations in the Northwest Texas Region Adding the Most Positions
2000-2005
(Projected)
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Occupations 2000 2005 Occupation
Job GainAverage
Annual
Growth1 Managerial and Administrative 19,125 20,402 1,277 1.3% 2 Other Clerical and Administrative Support Workers 18,473 19,567 1,094 1.2% 3 Teachers, Librarians, Counselors 10,750 11,755 1,005 1.8% 4 Computer Scientists, Mathematicians and Operations Researchers 2,863 3,820 957 5.9% 5 Food Preparation and Service 17,934 18,856 922 1.0% 6 Protective Service 9,098 9,984 886 1.9% 7 Motor Vehicle Operators 9,380 10,177 797 1.6% 8 Personal Service 5,426 6,216 790 2.8% 9 Helpers, Laborers and Material Movers, Hand 11,318 11,991 673 1.2% 10 Social, Recreational and Religious Workers 4,503 5,162 659 2.8% 11 Construction Trades 10,358 10,940 582 1.1% 12 Health Service 5,905 6,482 577 1.9% 13 Salespersons, Retail 9,025 9,581 556 1.2% 14 All Other Sales and Related Workers 5,767 6,319 552 1.8% 15 Cashiers 7,378 7,908 530 1.4% 16 Health Assessment and Treating 6,916 7,422 506 1.4% 17 Management Support 9,832 10,329 497 1.0% 18 Health Technicians and Technologists 6,411 6,897 486 1.5% 19 Hand Workers, Including Assembly and Fabrication 5,036 5,390 354 1.4% 20 Information Clerks 4,305 4,645 340 1.5% 21 Marketng and Sales Worker Supervisors 3,759 4,081 322 1.7% 22 Blue Collar Worker Supervisors 4,936 5,247 311 1.2% 23 Other Mechanics, Installers and Repairmen 2,932 3,235 303 2.0% 24 Adjustors, Investigators and Collectors 2,514 2,789 275 2.1% 25 Other Machine Setters and Operators and Tenders 3,866 4,135 269 1.4% For example, the 13-region model breaks regional employment into 94 occupations. In the case of the Northwest Texas region, this would mean each occupational category would contain an average of about 3,400 people in 2000. The 25 categories generating the most jobs in the region through 2005 typically have at least twice that number of jobs. Most of these large occupational categories will see moderate growth rates over the next few years, but because of their size generate a large number of new positions. In a few cases, expected rapid growth rates in smaller occupational categories will drive large occupational growth, as is the case with computer scientists.
Table 8 presents the 25 occupational categories expected to grow at the fastest rates though 2005. In this list, the importance of future training and education is evident. It is led by the need for additional computer scientists, and communication equipment workers, and includes health service workers, teachers, librarians, counselors, lawyers, health diagnosing workers, other technicians, information clerks, health technicians, technologists and health assessment and treating workers. At least 12 of the top 25 occupations expected to growth the fastest during the next five years will require some advanced training beyond high school, and most of these will require either an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree or other advanced degrees.
TABLE 8
25 Fastest Growing Occupations in the Northwest Texas Region
2000-2005
(Projected)
SOURCES: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and REMI.
Occupations 2000 2005 Occupational
GainAverage
Annual
Gain1 Computer Scientists, Mathematicians and Operations Researchers 2,863 3,820 957 5.9% 2 Communication Equipment Mechanics, Installers and Repairmen 211 266 55 4.7% 3 Metal and Plastic Process Machine Operators 858 1,030 172 3.7% 4 Social, Recreational and Religious Workers 4,503 5,162 659 2.8% 5 Personal Service 5,426 6,216 790 2.8% 6 Writers, Artists and Entertainers 2,164 2,413 249 2.2% 7 Adjusters, Investigators and Collectors 2,514 2,789 275 2.1% 8 Insurance Sales Workers 463 513 50 2.1% 9 Other Mechanics, Installers and Repairmen 2,932 3,235 303 2.0% 10 Counter and Rental Clerks 1,152 1,270 118 2.0% 11 Health Service 5,905 6,482 577 1.9% 12 Protective Service 9,098 9,984 886 1.9% 13 All Other Sales and Related Workers 5,767 6,319 552 1.8% 14 Gas and Petroleum Plant and System Workers 329 360 31 1.8% 15 Teachers, Librarians, Counselors 10,750 11,755 1,005 1.8% 16 Lawyers 931 1,013 82 1.7% 17 Health Diagnosing 2,099 2,282 183 1.7% 18 Marketing and Sales Worker Supervisors 3,759 4,081 322 1.7% 19 Technicians, Except Health, Engineering and Scientific 2,008 2,180 172 1.7% 20 Motor Vehicle Operators 9,380 10,177 797 1.6% 21 Information Clerks 4,305 4,645 340 1.5% 22 Health Technicians and Technologists 6,411 6,897 486 1.5% 23 All Other Service Workers 2,621 2,815 194 1.4% 24 Vehicle and Mobile Equipment Mechanics and Repairmen 3,557 3,819 262 1.4% 25 Health Assessment and Treating 6,916 7,422 506 1.4%
Endnote[1] State and Local government sectors were not defined separately until 1979.