A new article in Forbes projects America’s job growth by region over the next decade, and the news is exciting for Texas and the rest of the Third Coast region:
Once a sleepy, semitropical backwater, the Third Coast, which stretches along the Gulf of Mexico from south Texas to western Florida, has come out of the recession stronger than virtually any other region. Since 2001, its job base has expanded 7%, and it is projected to grow another 18% the coming decade.
The energy industry and burgeoning trade with Latin America are powering the Third Coast, combined with a relatively low cost, business-friendly climate. By 2023 its capital-Houston-will be widely acknowledged as America’s next great global city. Many other cities across the Gulf, including New Orleans and Corpus Christi, are also major energy hubs. The Third Coast has a concentration of energy jobs five times the national rate, and those jobs have an average annual salary of $100,000, according to EMSI.
The point here is jobs. Houston, and much of the rest of the state, is set to benefit heavily from growth in the energy industry and the ripple effect to other sectors. This represents a significant opportunity for Texans, most especially Texas students who will be entering the workforce over the course of the next two decades.
It is imperative, now more than ever, that we prepare our students as well as we possibly can for participation in the energy industry, as well as others that may piggy-back onto the rapid growth taking place in Houston. More from Forbes:
As the area gets wealthier, The Third Coast’s economy will continue to diversify. Houston, which is now the country’s most racially and ethnically diverse metro area, according to a recent Rice study, is home to the world’s largest medical center and has dethroned New York City as the nation’s leading exporter.
How can we ensure that Texas students are in a position to seize upon opportunities in what looks to be an expanding job market? We must ensure that every student is in a position to receive as high quality an education as possible for their specific needs. This could take several shapes. We should emphasize high quality (and thoroughly State Board of Education vetted) curriculum across all grade levels, as well enhancing the state’s online learning capacity so more students have access to high quality courses. We should also bring private school choice to Texas so low and middle income families have a chance to put their child in a learning environment best suited to prepare them for higher education opportunities or the workforce.
What we cannot do is maintain the status quo, which is to say blindly funding a rigid education system in the hopes it improves its problem areas (high dropout and college remediation rates, just to name two). There is going to be a great deal of opportunity in Texas in the coming years. Our students need to be in a position to seize it, and it’s on our education system to prepare them for as much.
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