Oil Industry Having Positive Impact on Houston Jobs
Jobs in Houston are abundant as of late, with recent graduates finding it easy to get hired, and Texas’s natural gas industry fueling much of the local economy.
While the rest of the country is suffering from the cost of oil and gas, Houston has been able to stay stable because of the strength of its economy and the rising price of energy.
In July, Texas ranked No.1 on CNBC’s 2008 list of America’s Top States For Business, surpassing Virginia for the first time. Texas also has 58 Fortune 500 companies, the most in the country, topping New York.
According to U.S. News & World Report, Houston has the second-most entry level jobs for recent college graduates, with more than 2,500 jobs, coming in second to New York’s 3,600 jobs.
According to an article by KPRC Local 2, the top entry level jobs in Houston are engineers, nursing occupations and hotel positions.
“People know they can come to Texas,” Governor Rick Perry said in the article. “They can risk their capital and the chance of having a good return on an investment, it’s pretty good.”
The natural gas industry has fueled many jobs in Texas and Houston, and the labor market as a whole is continuing to grow. According to an article by the Texas Workforce Commission, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area employed a total of 2,619,300 people in June 2008, a 2.1 percent increase from last year.
The area added a total of 13,200 jobs during the month, surpassing the five-year average growth for June by more than 5,000 jobs. Of all the industries in the Houston area:
- education and health services showed no growth as seasonal losses in education offset employment gains in health services
- professional and business services reported a small monthly gain, while annually there was an increase of 2.2 percent or 8,500 jobs
- leisure and hospitality increased slightly over the year and added 4,400 jobs for the month
- retail trade added 3,300 jobs, with clothing and clothing accessories as the major contributor
- wholesale trade added 1,000 jobs, mainly due to a 70-percent growth by merchant wholesalers and durable goods
- and the industry grew by 2.6 percent, or 3,500 jobs, from last year