Fed Listens: Roundtable with El Paso community leaders

Participants representing education, workforce development and employers discussed job market trends in the El Paso region and how labor market conditions may be affecting current and prospective workers.

Representatives from the education sector said there is good momentum in building local partnerships, especially around the goal of fostering strong workforce development outcomes in the long term.

In K-12 education, Armando Aguirre of Education Service Center Region 19 said public school districts are having to meet ongoing student needs with fewer resources, including fewer teachers. Aguirre said the districts are being forced to make tough decisions due to increasing costs and tight budgets, with a negative effect on staffing levels and overall support for students. A recent big concern, he noted, is that the region is seeing higher rates of unemployed teachers because school districts are letting go of a percentage of current teachers or cutting staff positions in an effort to minimize costs and maintain budgets.

For postsecondary education, William Serrata of El Paso Community College (EPCC) said the general pattern is that student enrollment rates inversely follow the economy—that is, enrollment numbers increase when the economy turns downward, and enrollment decreases as economic conditions improve. Since the pandemic, however, EPCC has experienced increasing enrollment over every semester, especially in career and technical education pathways and health care programs. If there is a shift back to “traditional” enrollment waves, Serrata said, higher enrollment numbers could be a signal that residents feel the economy is not in a strong place.

Clifton Tanabe of the University of Texas at El Paso said the El Paso region struggles to retain well-trained and educated adults in high-growth career pathways, and that there is a need to address this “lose-lose” dynamic. Currently, Tanabe said, the region experiences significant workforce and intellectual loss when workers with valuable skills and technical expertise look for opportunities elsewhere and leave El Paso.

Looking at the broader economic context for El Paso, Leila Melendez with Workforce Solutions Borderplex said fewer people in the region are losing jobs, and people are returning to work at a faster pace than before. Despite these strengths, overall wages in the region are not increasing at the same rate as they are for the state, and wages are not keeping pace with inflation, Melendez said. She reported that Workforce Solutions is seeing an increase in the number of caregivers (people caring for elderly or sick family members) who are dependent on government assistance to help manage costs. Furthermore, she said, the biggest job growth numbers are in lower-income, entry-level jobs—with high rates of turnover in those roles.

Roman Ortiz of Project ARRIBA, a workforce development initiative, said underemployment in El Paso is one of his organization’s biggest challenges. Project ARRIBA offers training and support for child care and transportation needs, among other supports, to help adults move into well-paying jobs. Ortiz said there is an urgent need to address local wage discrepancies because workers are incentivized to move elsewhere for higher wages and career opportunities, especially in growing career fields related to science and technology.

Multiple participants raised questions regarding how artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the nature of work and the implications for education and workforce development. K-12 and higher education representatives said they are working to incorporate learning about AI into teacher preparation, curriculum for students and postsecondary degree pathways.

JJ Childress of Microsoft said that AI democratizes information and expertise, enhancing productivity and effectiveness for business needs. By 2030, different skills will be expected, and basic knowledge of AI will be required for most industries, Childress said.

Representatives of three local employers shared their perspectives on the labor market and current economic conditions.

Kelly Tomblin of El Paso Electric said her company does not have trouble retaining talent since it pays workers well, especially for the El Paso region. However, to get quality workers to move to El Paso to fill the jobs they need, there is a marketing element involved, Tomblin said. She described El Paso Electric’s efforts and ability to attract and retain talent as crucial for local economic growth, saying if they can’t build power, the region cannot bring in more jobs.

Nicholas Tejeda of Tenet Healthcare said health care is a major industry in the area, accounting for a sixth of the local economy. While El Paso’s population is not growing, Tejeda said, his company sees that its market is maturing, and there is a pent-up demand for health care services that has not been met in the past. Since there is little new labor coming in from outside El Paso, Tenet Healthcare’s goal is to retain as much of its staff as possible, he said. To meet the community’s health care needs, the company sees a need to leverage the local labor market as much as it can.

In construction, Frank Spencer III of Aztec Contractors Inc. said there is strength in the local industry; however, contractors are struggling to find both skilled and unskilled labor. While there is a push for AI and technology use in construction, Spencer said, there is still an underlying need for quality, human talent. The current demand in construction cannot be supported due to a lack of local labor, he said. Spencer cited the need to build awareness of trade jobs and strengthen talent in trades such as HVAC, plumbing and electrical. Trade skills are in demand and pay well, but there needs to be a culture shift, he said, including dedicating resources and mentoring to bring enough new workers into these roles to meet demand.

Participants from organizations engaged in serving the El Paso community discussed how households are responding to higher prices and how changes in inflation over the past few years have affected decision-making around spending or investing.

Tim Davenport-Herbst of Project Vida described residents on the lowest end of the economic spectrum as survivors who know how to stretch their few resources in the most adaptable ways. In contrast, his organization is now seeing middle-income individuals and families struggle to navigate new situations as their wages stagnate or even decline while prices continue to increase. As a result, Davenport-Herbst said, these middle-income residents are stressed and stretched thin, leveraging credit cards more often and trying to find different ways to make ends meet. He noted that dual-income households are figuring out ways to cut costs and move forward, while single-income residents have fewer options available and are, therefore, being hit the hardest during stressful economic times.

Susan Goodell of El Pasoans Fighting Hunger said the local food bank is seeing elevated levels of need and food insecurity in the community. She noted that inflation is disproportionately hitting low- and middle-income households, with food inflation at 29.5 percent since December 2019. Because of rising costs of food, Goodell said, community members are making difficult decisions with limited budgets, including opting to purchase less-healthy food because it’s more affordable or foregoing meals, among other strategies. Increasing food costs, coupled with increasing costs of other basic needs such as housing and health care, are putting families in precarious positions, she said. Goodell expressed concern over some national developments, such as proposed federal funding cuts to social safety programs and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which she said may exacerbate already-difficult circumstances, especially for those in the lowest income bracket.

Georgina Hernandez of United Way of El Paso County said her organization is seeing low morale among many clients they serve, especially younger clients. As prices rise and costs increase over time, she described an underlying sense of clients’ hopelessness and anxiety about affording a future home or higher education, or simply being able to earn enough to get by in the future.

Andrea Tirres of Borderplex Connect, a regional coalition promoting digital inclusion, reported similar observations that low- and moderate-income individuals are facing difficult decisions around spending, purchasing food and more. She cited examples of individuals who are working with Borderplex Connect to increase their digital literacy skills as they look for jobs or upskilling for their current role. Tirres said the recent loss of funding opportunities from both state and federal levels makes it more difficult for Borderplex Connect to achieve its mission.

Reporting on the nonprofit sector overall, Tracy Yellen of the Paso del Norte Community Foundation said that nonprofits are the seventh largest employer in the El Paso region. Yellen described every nonprofit organization as trying to navigate significant uncertainty and funding cuts, in view of the endpoint of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding and anticipated cuts from other sources. Over the past two years, she noted, there has been a national trend of declining individual giving, likely due to increasing consumer costs and economic concerns. Corporations are more hesitant to donate funds to support community causes due to recession concerns, she said. Despite these challenges, Yellen said, nonprofits remain resourceful and resilient and are doing their best to retain staff members to continue serving their communities.