Finding and keeping workers in post-pandemic economy is a struggle for West Texas
- vkorobko1
- Apr 23, 2023
- 1 min read
Educators and employers are struggling to train, recruit and keep their workforce after the COVID-19 pandemic upended the way Texans learn and work, regional leaders told the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas last week.
Qualified workers — if they can be found — are burdened by financial stresses, such as finding good child care and transportation or being able to afford certification courses, educators and business leaders in the Permian Basin told the Fed as part of a listening tour. Local partnerships, public schools, local colleges and local companies — not the federal government — are the driving forces to solve these issues, they said. But progress is slow.
The event, known as Fed Listens, was at Odessa College and was the first in-person listening event for the federal reserve since the pandemic. Odessa is part of the Permian Basin, a constellation of more than 7,000 oil fields, and is often considered the energy capital of the U.S. The working-class city is home to more than 116,000 people.
