Workforce Demand and the Skills Gap in Texas

Abstract

Community colleges are an important provider of educational services and play a critical role in meeting the workforce demands of Texas employers. This study focuses on the role of community colleges as occupational skills suppliers and analyzes the direct contribution of Texas community colleges to addressing the projected future growth in skill demands of Texas employers. The Texas Workforce Commission's projections of employment within Standard Occupation Codes (SOCs) are compared to the number of degrees produced by community colleges and other two year institutions in Texas. The supply of degrees, by Classification of Instructional Program Codes (CIP codes), come from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The gaps by occupation between the projected demand by occupation and the number of credentials supplied are then calculated. Nearly half, 47%, of the degrees produced by Texas two-year colleges are in occupations in which the number of degrees is reasonably well-aligned with the projected number of openings, where the supply is within 50% of demand. One-third of the degrees are matched to occupations in which supply exceeds demand by more than 50%, while 19% of the degrees are in occupations where supply is less than demand.