Texas' Statewide Target Occupations

In planning for the future workforce of Texas, the Texas Workforce Commission and Local Workforce Development Boards focus on developing workforce strategies targeting high-growth, high-demand, and emerging industry sectors that are critical to the state and local economies.

Not only do these industries support economic growth, they also offer individuals the opportunity to obtain good jobs with good pay and, more importantly, provide career paths.

The development of an employer-focused workforce plan requires utilizing economic information and analysis to drive strategic training investments, to identify strategic partners, and to design effective service delivery systems.

In order to identify current job opportunities and determine where good jobs will be in the future, these workforce plans must:

• identify current and emerging workforce needs in economically critical occupations and determine what preparation is required to succeed in those occupations; and
• understand the workforce challenges that must be addressed to ensure a prepared and competitive workforce.

This list highlights critical occupations in Texas that support growth within the Governor's Industry Clusters and meet the following criteria:

1. They are relevant to a core industry in any of the Governor's Industry Clusters;
   • Aerospace and Defense;
   • Advanced Technologies and Manufacturing;
   • Biotechnology and Life Science;
   • Energy;
   • Petroleum Refining and Chemical Products; and
   • Information and Computer Technology.
   
   
2. They offer a minimum annual salary of $30,000;
   
   
3. They have a favorable Growth-Replacement Ratio - i.e., more job openings are available due to new demand as opposed to needing to replace the current population of workers;
   
   
4. They have a wide Education Preference Range - i.e. they require anywhere from short-term on-the-job training to a Bachelor's degree plus work experience; and
   
   
5. There are at least 500 people currently employed in at least one core industry cluster.

Governor's State Targeted Occupations