Editor’s Note: Hunter Dworaczyk was a former Daily Texan Sports Editor. His last semester at The Texan was spring 2023.
Texas lost 18,900 jobs in September, a decrease the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said was partially caused by lower rates of immigration in an Oct. 19 news release.
The decrease means that employers had fewer of those positions on the payroll that month; it does not account for open positions or job listings, Hunter Dworaczyk, communications specialist for the Texas Workforce Commission, wrote in an email.
Construction and government industries lost the most jobs, according to the news release. Government professor Nathan Jensen wrote in an email that while the report suggested declining immigration had the largest impact on the job decrease, other factors such as high oil and gas prices and global tariffs could also be affecting the number.
“There are global, or at least national, areas that have causes outside of Texas,” Jensen wrote. “Labor markets are impacted by a number of global factors.”
Despite the decrease, Dworaczyk wrote that Texas is still projected to add 1.7 million jobs over the next decade and that there are currently over 700,000 unique job postings in the state.
Dworaczyk said that although the workplace is dynamic, there are “three certainties” for students about to enter the job market: where they start is not necessarily where they will stay, continuing to learn means students have the power to choose what they do for work and hard work is the best path to professional development and advancement.
“As Millennials are experiencing opportunities to shift into leadership roles and Gen Zers are preparing to enter the workforce, they are doing so at a time when employers contemplate performance or merit over seniority when considering advancement opportunities or raises,” Dworaczyk wrote. “Whatever you choose to do, do it well, because it matters.”
Daniel Liu, assistant vice provost for Career Success at the University, said students should take advantage of programs such as Home to Texas, Focus2 career assessments and the 12twenty@Texas platform. He said artificial intelligence is changing the workplace and students should adapt by learning durable skills such as being able to articulate your thoughts logically, having strong judgement and having more cross-disciplinary range.
“The reason (companies) see that that’s so important is they’re finding that the best employees right now might have been that traditional deep accountant or deep marketer who was really good at one thing, but AI is making it really easy for that person now to do everything end to end,” Liu said. “So having employees who can think bigger beyond their narrow lane has become a more important skill set than ever before.
While AI is changing the workplace, Liu said students should reflect on the actions they are taking to prepare themselves for a career.
“As you think about what your goals might be three years from now, ask yourself: do you clearly know what you need to do right now to gain a competitive advantage?” Liu said. “If the answer is ‘I actually don’t know,’ then it’s probably time to go do some discovery.”
