Austin Job Market
Austin Business History
For much of the last century, state government and the University of Texas dominated the job scene in Austin. But beginning in the Sixties, decisions by state and community leaders had a profound impact on Austin's economy. In the mid-1960s engineering and science programs developed at UT provided the personnel pool IBM needed and the company opened a research plant here in 1966. Soon, Texas Instruments and Motorola followed.
Then in 1983, leaders in the emerging U.S. high technology corporate world decided to form a consortium to design what was then called the fifth generation of computers. So the companies could cooperate with each other, they sought and won exemptions from federal antitrust laws and the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) was launched. State and city leaders put together an enticing package and lured MCC to Austin, setting the city on the road to its current reputation as Silicon Hills.
In 1984, Michael Dell, one of UT's most famous dropouts, started his computer company, now Austin's largest private sector employer, and in 1988, city and state leaders used the MCC experience to lure Sematech, the semiconductor consortium to town. That same public-private partnership approach has continued with UT's IC2 Institute and the Austin Technology Incubator.
Between 1980 and 1990, Austin's labor force increased an incredible 40 percent. There were some rough patches along the way. A real estate boom, largely fueled by skyrocketing oil prices in the mid-1980s, went bust in the late 1980s and the savings and loan scandals sent some local business leaders to bankruptcy court and even jail.
But as the Texas economy diversified and Austin's hi-tech industries increased, the economy got back on track. By the end of the 90s, with the dot.com boom under way, unemployment rates fell to just above two percent and banner signs saying "Now Hiring" were everywhere. With the bursting of the dot.com bubble, unemployment increased, but even the worst numbers in recent years have been rosy and now Austin enjoys an unemployment rate just a little over four percent.
The Austin economy has diversified and is anchored in several sectors -- technology, education, government, healthcare and consumer services. The area's top employers are Dell Computer, Austin Independent School District, the City of Austin, the federal government, notably the Internal Revenue Service, Freescale Semiconductor, IBM, Seton Healthcare, H-E-B grocery store chain, the State of Texas and the University of Texas. Other major employers include Advanced Micro Devices, Applied Materials, Austin Community College, National Instruments and Solectron. Other recognizable big business names are 3M Corp, American Achievement Corporation, Apple Computer, Girling Healthcare and Whole Foods Market.
But it is not just bureaucrats and techies that make up the employment scene in Austin. Music, movies, artists and entrepreneurs flourish here, also and perhaps that is why so many Austin businesses are homegrown. For more information on the area's job picture there are a couple of useful sites, the Texas Workforce Commission and the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
