Named Yahoo! Internet Life's #2 Most Wired City in America and Forbes #3 Best City for Business in 1999, Austin was a high tech mecca in the 90s. In 2001 BestJobsUSA.com called us the #1 place to live and work. However, there's more to our city than semi-conductors and computers. Explore the major industries shaping our city and area employment opportunities.
Major Industries
• Services 31%
• Trade 23%
• Government 22%
• Manufacturing 12%
especially high-tech ("Silicon Hills") including:
• computers
• software
• semiconductors
• telecommunications
[more high-tech]
Tourism is an important part of our economy, in part due to our film and music industries as well as being the State Capitol. As the seat of government for the state, government makes up a significant portion of the current employment.
The greatest growth of jobs in 2001 was in the services category, especially in business services. Austin was slightly ahead of the statewide job growth rate of 2.1%. Job growth is expected to rise somewhat in 2002 and signifcantly in 2003. Services and trade should continue to show job growth and the manufacturing sector, especially technology jobs will likely stabilize and can be expected to pick up in 2003.
Unemployment began the year at 2.1%. A sluggish US economy and layoffs, saw a rise to 4.7% by September 2001. The Austin area lost 23,000 jobs in 2001. Major layoffs of 1000 or more occurred in the technology sector, including AMD, Dell Computer, Applied Materials, Solectron Corp., Motorola, and Multek. We ended the year at 4.5% while the US unemployment rate was at 5.4%.
Average unemployment rates since 1990 have ranged from 4.9% to 2%. Some economic projections for 2002 indicate that the unemployment rate will likely hold steady in 2002 but begin dropping again in 2003.
Largest Private Sector Employers in January 2001
• Administaff Companies [S - business]
• Advanced Micro Devices [M - high-tech]
• Applied Materials Inc. [M - high-tech]
• Daughters of Charity Health [S - health]
• Dell Computer Corp. [M - high-tech]
• H.E. Butt Grocery Co. (HEB) [T - retail]
• IBM [M - high-tech]
• Motorola Inc. [M - high-tech]
• Round Rock Hospital [S - health]
• Wal-Mart Associates Inc. [T - retail]
S=Services, M=Manufacturing, T=Trade
Other major technology employers: SBC/Southwestern Bell, Tivoli Systems, National Instruments, Solectron Texas, 3M Company, WorldCom, and Abbott Laboratories.
Other major employers: State Government, University of Texas
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