Center for Community and Business Research

Texas State University - San Marcos Field Center

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Austin has long been regarded as the cultural, political, educational, and environmental center of Texas. Austin attracted and continues to attract a diverse mix of politicians, teachers, writers, musicians, environmentalists, and average citizens who fall in love with the natural beauty of the central Texas area. Austin is sometimes called the “Gateway to the Hill Country.” The Balcones Escarpment runs along the citiy’s western edge and rises up to separate the flat prairies of Texas from the rolling hills surrounding Austin. The Highland lakes chain including three lakes that surround the city of Austin provide ample opportunity for all types of water sports. The most prominent of these lakes is Town Lake, which bisects downtown Austin and boasts some ten-miles of hike- and-bike trails bordering its perimeter.

Since its inception, Austin’s populations have included a variety of immigrant groups. Germans, Swedes and Mexicans were the most prominent groups of people inhabiting the beautiful and haunting rolling hills of Central Texas in Austin’s early years. The Mexican immigrant population became even more prominent during the mid 1900’s as large numbers of Mexican immigrants fled Mexico as political unrest deepened during the Mexican Revolution. Hispanic populations now make up over one-third of Austin’s population.

Early jazz and blues clubs sprang up here in the late 1920s, a precursor of the “Live Music Capital of the World” reputation that Austin now enjoys. The late renowned blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan said that he honed his unique talents in East Austin haunts such as the Victory Grill.

Much of Austin’s most recent growth is a direct result of the technology boom. Austin has made a history as a leader in both technology and the creative arts. The same entrepreneurial spirit that led 19-year old Michael Dell to launch a now- Fortune 500 company from his University of Texas dorm room has also propelled Austin as a music and film center. The pages of Austin’s history and myth unfold at the Texas State History Museum while the legacy of President lives on at the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum. From buffalo chips to silicon chips, the little trading post by the Colorado River that would be known as Austin, has emerged as the focal point of the Silicon Hills.

Labor Market Highlights

Recent changes in the Austin / San Marcos field center area resembles recent changes in the San Antonio field center area. The Austin / San Marcos area experienced steady growth in jobs from the beginning of 2004 to the beginning of 2006, from approximately 836,000 to 885,000 jobs. Even as the labor force grew, members looking for work declined over the same period, from over 46,000 claims to 34,000 at the end of 2005. Correspondingly, the unemployment rate fell from 5.6 percent to 3.8 percent during that time.

The Field Center Area Jobs chart shows both the number of jobs in field center counties and the concentration of the industry relative to the rest of the state at the end of the first quarter of 2005. Travis County (Austin) exerts a strong influence on the field center numbers since it accounts for 73 percent of the jobs.

The “field center ratio” shows the proportion of industry jobs compared to all jobs in the area. Although less prominent than in other southwest Texas field center areas, 40 percent of the jobs in the Austin / San Marcos field center area are in two industries: education and health services (0.214); and trade, transportation, and utilities (0.191).

The question of whether these industry ratios are high or low can be determined by comparing them with the proportions that the industry represents in the rest of the state. For example, the field center area reports 96,489 professional and business service jobs, which is over 13 percent of all jobs in the area. To reflect the state average, the proportion needs to be nearly 12 percent of jobs in this industry. Dividing 0.136 (the field center ratio) by 0.119 (the state ratio) yields a quotient of 1.14. This number is referred to as a “location quotient.” When the location quotient is less than 1.0, the area industry is under-represented relative to the state.

When the location quotient is greater than 1.0, the area industry is over-represented relative to the state. So, a quotient of 1.14 indicates that the professional and business service industry is represented in the Austin / San Marcos field center area at a greater level than the state average. What other industries have a particular foothold in the Austin / San Marcos Field Center? Reflecting the headquarters for state government in Austin, the nearly 53,000 public administration jobs are more than 7 percent of the area labor market. Across the state, public administration represents a little more than 4 percent of jobs. A second industry with a notable concentration in the Austin / San Marcos field center area is the information industry, with a location quotient of 1.30. While the 22,000-plus jobs in this industry is relatively small, it nonetheless represents a greater concentration in information jobs than is found in the rest of the state.

As in the San Antonio area, natural resources and mining is under-represented in the Austin / San Marcos field center area. However, unlike San Antonio, manufacturing jobs in the Austin / San Marcos area nearly keep pace with the state average.