Houston, A Bright Spot In US Economy, Frets About Labor Shortage

HOUSTON, June 23 (Reuters) - Bustling Houston, one of the bright spots in the U.S. economy, is growing so fast that business leaders fear running out of skilled labor as billions are spent building new energy infrastructure on the Gulf Coast.
The Greater Houston Partnership, the business chamber for the 10-county region, on Monday launched a training plan with companies, junior colleges, high schools and social service agencies to prepare people for thousands of new jobs being created for welders, pipefitters and plumbers.
"Houston has had this incredible growth rate but the lack of skilled workers could slow us down," said Patrick Jankowski of the Greater Houston Partnership.
Of the top 20 metro areas, Houston's pace of job growth in the 12-months through May was the second-fastest in the country at 3.3 percent, behind only Dallas at 3.7 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Houston was the first major metro area to regain all the 153,000 jobs it lost in the Great Recession. Since January 2010, it has added 407,300 - more than double what it lost, Jankowski said.
The Houston economy grew 5.3 percent in 2012, trailing only San Francisco while outpacing the wider U.S. economy, according to the most recent data available from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Many of the jobs being added in metropolitan Houston, which includes the refinery belt around Galveston Bay and part of the Texas coast, are well-paying "middle-skill" positions at new plants designed to process surging output of oil and natural gas from the U.S. shale boom.
12
View Full Article
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
- Weatherford CEO's Rebound Plan Relies On Getting Smaller
- Iran Says Oil Market Is Too Tight For US Zero Exports Target
- China's Squeezed 'Teapots' Eye Petchem Path To Riches
- Baker Hughes: US Drillers Add Oil Rigs For Second Week In Three
- Venezuela Hands China More Oil Presence, But No Mention Of New Funds
- UK Prime Minister Creates New Energy Security Dept
- Calls For New Global Profits Windfall Taxes Are Misleading, OEUK Said
- India Rushes to Long-Term LNG Deals
- Chinese Wind Companies Set For Expansion
- Oil Prices Have Been in Turbulent Downtrend Since Mid-2022
- How Critical Is Cyber Security for Offshore Oil and Gas Installations?
- Warmer Start To 2023 Drops US Natural Gas Price Forecast
- New SPR Bill Passes House
- Shell CEO Says World 'Desperately In Need' Of Natural Gas
- Energy Services Sector Will Grow To $1 trillion In 2025
- Fate Of $8Bn Alaska Oil Project To Be Resolved In Next 30 Days
- Winter Storm Mara Update
- What Would War-End Mean for Global Oil and Gas?
- Gov't Tampering Puts Australian Gas Market In Unenviable Position
- OPEC+ Exports Show Russia Surges While Saudi Arabia Dials Back
- Fed Will Be One Of The Leading Oil Price Drivers in 2023
- Will A New Iran Nuclear Deal Be Agreed to in 2023?
- Valaris Employee Reported Missing from Rig
- Gasoline and Diesel Prices Expected to Fall
- New SPR Bill Passes House
- Is the USA Shale Boom Over?
- Higher Oil Prices Have Not Led to More Exploration
- Shell Finds Gas In Pensacola High-Impact Well Off UK
- Iran Oil Gushes Into Global Market
- Will Oil Hit $100 Per Barrel in 2023?
- What Bad Habits Should Oil and Gas Jobseekers Avoid?
- Eni, Chevron Make Significant Gas Discovery Off Egypt