The 25th Annual Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Conference met from November 30 to December 2 to discuss current and future needs in the Lone Star state amid growing labor concerns.
This conference addressed multiple issues facing the state, such as unemployment, training for jobs not requiring a college degree, and a projected nursing shortage.
Just under 590,000 Texans are without a job, with the unemployment rate sitting at 4% in October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We need to ensure that we keep turning out the number of college graduates in important fields of technology and accounting, and law,” said Bryan Daniel, TWC chairman. “The different areas that continue to drive business growth in the state.”
TWC Commissioner Aaron Demerson said that it is important to keep a flow of employees in every type of industry.
“Health care industries, IT industries, the manufacturing industries and it goes on and on and on, and each one has their own specific needs from that standpoint,” said Demerson. “We need to make sure we are addressing each and every one of those pipelines.”
The Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies conducted a study in March 2021 that concluded that Texas would face a shortage of nurses by 2032.
The Updated Nurse Supply and Demand Projection used 2018 as its baseline year and projected nursing demand through 2032, projecting increased shortages in every nursing category if demand for nurses continues to outpace the supply.
The supply of vocational nurses is expected to increase by 13.8%, but demand is expected to grow by 45.5%. The study also projects that 16.3% of the projected demand in 2032 for registered nurses will not be met.
“COVID-19 has really increased the shortage,” said Kathy Thomas, executive director for the Texas Board of Nursing, in April, according to the Texas comptroller. “Nurses are walking out. They’re worn out, they’re burned out and they’re stepping away from their jobs.”
Fears over this shortage have led to some initiatives in North Texas, such as that of the Hospital Corporation of America, to build a new nursing campus in Richardson in 2023, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
Commissioner Julian Alvarez addressed this labor concern on December 1 during his supersession. Alvarez claimed that the workforce gap can be solved with apprenticeships.
The TWC announced in February that it would dedicate $15 million to healthcare apprenticeship programs to alleviate these shortages.
“After convening a group of stakeholders, including experts from Baylor Scott & White and DHR Health to discuss their challenges, it became clear we needed to take immediate action to train more healthcare providers and nurses across the state,” said Alvarez in a release.
“Our registered apprenticeship approach to training nurses is one of the most innovative in the country, and we’re thrilled to play a part in creating healthcare career opportunities for Texans,” he continued.
Alvarez also announced that he would be resigning from his position on December 15.
During the TWC meeting, Demerson also argued for the importance of anticipating future workforce needs, pointing to the example of the metaverse, a term used to describe the realm of computer-generated extended reality, or XR, which includes augmented, mixed, and virtual reality.
“We are going to be concentrating on Metaverse,” said Demerson. “What’s out there in the Metaverse? There are jobs that haven’t even been mentioned. A while back we didn’t know about a web designer. We weren’t aware of IT jobs that are present now that weren’t a part of that.”
Daniel seemed to agree, stating, “I think the caution flag I’d raise for myself and my colleagues is, ‘let’s don’t get caught up in how great we are growing right now and understand how we are going to keep growing in the future.'”
