WESLACO, Texas – The healthcare and social assistance industry in the Rio Grande Valley is going to grow by between 23 and 28 percent in the next seven years, according to Workforce Solutions.
The accommodation and food industry is going to grow 43 percent over the same period, while the administrative, support and waste management sectors combined will grow by 43 percent.
The professional, scientific and technical service sectors will grow by 48 percent between now and 2030. And educational services will grow by 53 percent.
These were the projections given by Kim Moore, project training specialist at South Texas College, in a presentation made at a summer retreated hosted by RGV Focus at the Knapp Conference Center in Weslaco recently.
Moore made the presentation on behalf of Workforce Solutions. After his presentation the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service sought to interview Moore about the numbers. However, an RGV Focus representative suggested talking to a Workforce Solutions staff member instead. Daniel Uribe, business relations and information manager for Workforce Solutions was also at the retreat.
In his interview, Uribe, pictured above, said healthcare and social assistance was “by far the largest industry in the Valley. He said there was a “huge need” for more professional, scientific and technical workers. Likewise, teachers and educational staff.
“Because of the need of talent in these particular industries, and the need for our community to come together and get involved and participate and support the creation of jobs, the creation of talent, with these skills that are going to be required, particularly in healthcare and information technology, for the workforce system right now, here locally, we’re putting additional efforts towards those industries,” Uribe said.
“And the way that we’re doing that is through sector industry partnerships. So we have one dedicated for healthcare, and another one dedicated for the information technology system.”
Specifically on healthcare, Uribe said supporting this sector is “a no brainer.”
He said: “It (healthcare) is the largest industry. We need a lot of jobs, particularly in nursing. But we also need the supporting type of occupations in that field as well. So, we are always trying to support that particular industry. We know also that that industry creates more than $13.7 billion of revenue here in the in the region. So that’s what it’s worth, that industry. And those are numbers from a 2019 study that we conducted. So, I’m sure by now it is probably a $13.9 billion industry.”
As for information technology, Uribe said: “We call it an industry but in reality, it’s across industry. Information technologies are embedded everywhere, in all industries. So that is another reason why we are putting interest behind that particular field with other industry sector partners that Workforce Solutions support and collaborate with.”
Uribe said RGV Focus was one of those collaborators.
Uribe said his organization is focusing on the healthcare and information technology industries.
“That’s where we encourage the new workforce, the new talent, to be trained. To gain knowledge and skills and, of course, for adults that are already in that field and just want to transfer or change careers as well.”
Uribe added: Workforce Solutions is trying to provide the most accurate and recent information to our partners and that includes educational partners, community based organizations, economic development corporations. We are trying to become kind of the go-to place to obtain data and information that is meaningful for decision-makers.”
Here is the audio interview with Uribe:
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