Dewhurst touts jobs program

MIDLAND Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst came to a city that may be fully employed to tout a program designed to get people back on the job.

The Texas Back to Work program pays employers up to $2,000 per employee for training new hires for at least 120 days. Dewhurst said that since it was instituted in April, more than 7,700 people have been hired in the state as part of the program.

“You’re creating jobs, you’re helping self esteem, and you’re increasing production,” he said.

But the Midland metropolitan statistical area has regularly registered among the state’s lowest unemployment rates, posting a non-seasonally adjusted rate of 5.1 percent in September, the last month in which numbers were released. Odessa, 20 miles away, has been higher, with a 7.4 percent rate in September, still below the statewide rate of 7.9 percent.

Until recently, the Odessa statistical area was among the higher unemployment rates in the state for months.

Dewhurst said the state would consider looking at ways in the upcoming Legislative session to adjust the $2,000 rate for areas that have more demand for jobs, as opposed to places like Midland, which is facing a worker shortage.

“There may be some more flexibility in the future,” he said. “We might be able to do it either a little bit more area by area or more for the program.”

But State Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, who introduced Dewhurst at Wednesday’s news conference at Nabors Well Service, said that the number makes sense because the money is designed to be paid to employers to cover costs.

“Right now, $2,000 seems to work,” he said.

In the Permian Basin, 60 employers have signed up for Texas Back to Work the program, with 52 employees being hired, Gail Dickenson, chief operating officer for Workforce Solutions Permian Basin, said.

Willie Taylor, chief executive officer of Workforce Solutions Permian Basin, said the area is again seeing the demand for workers it faced before oil and gas prices dipped in 2008. When Dewhurst said that between 1,200 and 1,300 people are moving to Texas each year looking for work, Taylor asked that some of them be sent this way.

“Absolutely, we’re back to that situation,” Taylor said. “The more skills they have, the better off (workers) are.”

But Taylor said the area was better prepared for an influx of new workers than it had previously been. He credited new housing being built, as well as additional training programs.

He said construction at Midland and Howard colleges that was facilitated by bond packages, along with a $68.5 million bond package recently passed for Odessa College, are improving the workforce.

“At least we’re able to bring people in,” he said. “If we have at least 100 people move into our area a day, that works better.”