Williamson County Labor Force*
Employment -- Civilian Labor Force (CLF): The most recent civilian labor force estimates from TWC for Texas statewide in March 2007 is 11,526,821 which is an increase in the labor force of 151,947 persons since March 2006. This represents a 1.3 percent change in Texas during this time period. These estimates are not seasonally adjusted. Williamson County had a civilian labor force of 189,626 for March 2007 which was a change of 5,026 in CLF since March 2006. This change represented an increase of 2.7 percent for the study area. For another glimpse into TWC/LMI's Texas and County information, link to: http://www.tracer2.com/cgi/dataanalysis/AreaSelection.asp?tableName=Labforce.
Economic Diversification: Relative to the Texas economy, the LMCI economic diversification index measures the degree to which a county economy is diversified. Significant concentrations of employment in only one or two industrial sectors makes an area less diversified and more susceptible to widespread economic decline should a key sector suffer a significant loss. While economic diversification or a balanced distribution of employment across all major industry sectors, is generally desirable, in some cases, especially where a region is exploiting a comparative advantage (such as access to raw materials, access to transportation routes, etc.) a statistically diverse economy does not necessarily correlate with higher growth. Of the three levels of diversification ranging from below average, average and above average, Williamson County had an economic base which is of average diversity.
Occupations: The best source of occupational information at the county level is from the 2000 Census. The total number of persons 16 years of age or older who were employed in Williamson County during the 2000 Census was 129,192. The following presents a table of those employed by occupational categories for this region compared to statewide percentages:
| Occupational Categories |
Count |
Area % |
Statewide % |
| Mgmt., Professional Occs. |
54,842 |
42.4 |
33.3 |
| Service Occupations |
12,916 |
10.0 |
14.6 |
| Sales and Office Occupations |
36,431 |
28.2 |
27.2 |
| Farming/Fishing/Forestry Occs. |
293 |
0.2 |
0.7 |
| Constr., Extraction Occs. |
12,089 |
9.4 |
10.9 |
| Production, Transport. Occs. |
12,621 |
9.8 |
13.2 |
Class of Worker: Another way to view the types of workers in an area's labor force is by class of worker. According to the 2000 Census, the area had 100,540 employees who were private wage and salary workers representing 77.8 percent of all workers. The region had another 19,822 persons who were government workers or 15.3 percent, 8,539 who were self employed workers or 6.6 percent and 291 who were unpaid family workers representing 0.2 percent. This compares to the Texas statewide distribution of 78.0 percent for private wage and salary workers, 14.6 percent for government workers, 7.1 percent for self employed, and 0.3 percent for unpaid family workers.
Unemployment: According to TWC unemployment figures for March 2007 Williamson County had an unemployment estimate of 6,707 persons which represents a rate of 3.5 compared to a Texas statewide unemployment rate of 4.2 for the same month. For the study area these estimates represent a decrease from March 2006 unemployment rate of 4.5 percent. The Texas statewide unemployment rate was 5.1 for March 2006. For the latest unemployment rates, see TWC's LMI website - Unemployment Rates (LAUS): http://www.tracer2.com/cgi/dataanalysis/AreaSelection.asp?tableName=Labforce and for a description of methodology link to: http://www.tracer2.com/article.asp?ARTICLEID=148.
Reporting Establishments: The TWC indicates 5,519 business reporting units operating in Williamson County in the first quarter of 2006 with an average of 19.27 workers per unit. Average firm size makes a difference for job hunting and job development strategy because larger firms tend to have better defined ports of entry and in-house training capabilities. Although definitions vary greatly, small business can be defined as less than 50 workers and medium sized is 250 or less. The Texas average is 23.47 workers per unit. Regions with higher than average number of workers per unit tend to be dominated economically by a few very large employers.
Commuting to Work: Commuting to work for workers 16 years and over has a number of implications for transportation and municipal services study. Williamson County had a total of 104,960 or 82.2 percent who drove their car to work alone, 15,055 or 11.8 percent who car pooled, 420 or 0.3 percent used public transportation, 1,328 or 1.0 percent who walked to work, 1,100 or 0.9 percent of regional workers who used other means to work, and 4,776 or 3.7 percent who worked at home. These methods of commuting to work compare to the Texas statewide results by: car alone (77.7%), car pool (14.5%), public transportation (1.9%), walked (1.9%), other means (1.3%), and worked at home (2.8%). The average travel time to work in minutes was 28.00 for the region as compared to an overall statewide average of 25.4 minutes.
Employers by Employee Size Class: According to the information used by the Industrial Profiles system which utilizes the American Labor Market Information System's (ALMIS) employer contact data from INFOUSA, Inc. for Fall, 2004, the area had approximately 1,528 establishments which employed 10 or more employees. Of these employers, approximately 0.1 percent employed over 1000 employees. 0.3 percent employed between approximately 500 and 999 employees, 7.4 percent employed between approximately 100 and 499 employees, 10.8 percent employed between 50 and 99 employees, 32.3 percent employed between 20 and 49 employees, and 49.1 percent employed between approximately 10 and 19 employees.
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* Information comes from the Williamson County Narrative Profile Report, from:
Labor Market and Career Information / Texas Workforce Commission
9001 North IH 35, Suite 103B
Austin, TX 78753-5233
Main:(512) 837-7484 Fax:(512) 491-4966
http://www.cdr.state.tx.us
