TEXAS, USA — At the beginning of March, Governor Gregg Abbott announced that Texas reached a record high for jobs in the labor force and the Permian Basin has been dominating employment rates. Midland earned the number one ranking of 2.6% unemployment, and Odessa is at 3.5%.
The Permian Basin population has continued to grow over the years and the labor force seems to be following closely behind with available jobs in every field.
“For people who want jobs, you can go to work here," said Permian Basin Workforce Solutions CEO Willie Taylor. "It's no doubt from the service industry and medical, law enforcement, automotive diesel tech CDL, drug driving, education, you name it.”
Taylor has been in this field for 54 years and has seen the workforce evolve right before his eyes.
“We have 15,000 employees that are registered with the Texas Workforce Commission, and I would say about six seven years ago, that was around by 12,000," Taylor said. "And so you see a lot of growth in that area. And a lot of it is like say oil and gas industry service companies, you know, coming in to meet that demand. And then you know, when you know, trying to meet that demand oil and gas industry, where your school districts grow [and] your medical facility grow.”
One factor that plays into the Permian Basin's high ranking is the high wages and contributions to the country.
“We pay good wages, top wages in the state," Taylor said. "Plus, here are the oil and gas industry. They're producing 6 million barrels a day right here in the Permian Basin. They pretty well support the state of Texas and majority of the United States with the energy here.”
Outside of oil and gas, the Permian Basin is still looking for doctors, educators and other primary service providers.
“We [are] training people that’s going into CDL truck driving, automotive, diesel tech, IT, health care, education and law enforcement," Taylor said. "So, we [are] training those individuals we subsidize that on top of what Odessa College, Midland College, UTPB, Texas Tech, all those folks are feeding our system.”
There are five workforce centers (Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, Fort Stockton and Pecos) that all assist with providing services to the community. One obstacle they've seen is applicants not having the right skills for a job, but they do have the resources to fix that.
“Right about $25 million budget, we set aside 40% of that workforce money for training, because that's what we have to do," Taylor said. "If you're going to address those skill shortages, you got to get them in the skills, you know, training and everything. Get them to make good decisions, and then when they're not in debt too.”
The new workforce is constantly changing, and Permian Basin Workforce Solutions is here for the public every step of the way.
If you are in search for a job, you're in luck. Workforce Solutions will be hosting a job fair in Odessa on Wednesday, March 27, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The people attending the job fair are local law enforcement, school districts and medical centers. The fair also offers on spot interviews, resume assistance and skill workshops.