MISSION, Texas – Rio Grande Valley industry and services have expanded by leaps and bounds, but there’s much work to be done as one region.
That is the view of Teclo Garcia, CEO of Mission Economic Development Corporation.
Garcia discussed the Valley’s economic growth in a new posting on LinkedIn.
“The Rio Grande Valley’s GDP increased more than 50 percent from 2010 to 2021, mirroring the bold growth in metro areas around Texas,” Garcia wrote. He was citing statistics from the St. Louis Federal Reserve.
“Gross Domestic Product is the total market value of goods of services produced, and generally, if GDP is up, that’s a really good thing.”
Garcia continued: “McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro GDP shot up 54 percent to $25.50 billion, and Brownsville-Harlingen metro did the same to $13.22 billion.”
There were similar huge increases in Laredo and Corpus Christi, Garcia reporter. Laredo’s GDP grew by to 75 percent, to $13.58 billion. Corpus Christi’s GDP grew 36 percent, to $24.94 billion.
“San Antonio’s GDP is larger than all STX metros combined at $144 billion, and it grew by an amazing 73 percent,” Garcia wrote.
“There’s a message here. RGV industry and services have expanded by leaps and bounds, but there’s much work to be done as ONE region – metros, counties, cities and EDCs working together to compete as one region region. There’s no other way to compete.”
At press time, Garcia’s analysis had drawn two responses on LinkedIn.
“Great message. And I like the data setup to your point,” said economic development specialist Brian Kelsey.
“What steps do you recommend EDCs take to operationalize that strategic opportunity of competing together as one region? Seems most already participate in regional groups like (the) RGV Partnership. What’s the next level?”
“Very impressive,” said business relations specialist Xavier Ardanaz.
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