McAllen, Brownsville ranked in top 10 for job growth

McALLEN — Local development and business leaders say a combination of low living costs, population growth, Mexican investment and an increase in retail demand make Rio Grande Valley cities good places for business.
Forbes magazine ranked the Brownsville and McAllen metropolitan areas in the top 10 for job growth in the country. Both also ranked in the top 100 places for businesses and careers in the United States.
Each year, Forbes looks at the 200 largest metro areas in the U.S. and considers various factors — including job growth, business and living costs, income growth, educational attainment, and economic growth — to determine the best cities for business and careers.
The McAllen metropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Hidalgo County, ranked second in terms of job growth and 82nd overall, improving on last year’s ranking of third in job growth and 115th overall. The Brownsville area ranked sixth for job growth and 79th overall — weaker ratings than last year’s fourth in job growth and 171st overall.
The region has seen steady growth but not a big boom, said Keith Patridge, president and CEO of the McAllen Economic Development Corp. Companies have come in, but for the most part, jobs increase because established companies are growing.
“It’s been a pretty balanced growth,” Patridge said. “We haven’t seen any big standout companies.”
Patridge also noted that while violence in Mexico has brought Mexican investors to the U.S. and increased the population in McAllen, it also is hurting the area because fewer companies want to move to the Valley in order to manufacture in Mexico.
The low living and business costs also contribute to McAllen’s ranking, said Steve Ahlenius, the president and CEO of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce.
Harlingen’s metro area tops the list of the cheapest places to live in the U.S., according to the ACCRA Cost of Living Index, produced by the Council for Community and Economic Research.
McAllen is No. 4 on that list; Brownsville is No. 7.
“It’s cheap to do business here because the whole economy is depressed,” said Pat Hobbs, the executive director for Workforce Solutions in Cameron County. “The prices are not what they are in big cities.”
Hobbs also noted that Brownsville weathered the recession better than other U.S. cities, causing Brownsville to jump in ratings.
Population growth has created more retail jobs because of the increased demand, but it also means that unemployment is high because more people are going into the workforce, Hobbs said.
In May, Cameron and Hidalgo counties both had unemployment rates above 11 percent, with the Texas unemployment rate at 7.9 percent.
McAllen and Brownsville received low marks for educational attainment in the Forbes rankings, coming in at 194th and 195th, respectively.
Mike Willis, the director of business partnerships for Workforce Solutions in Hidalgo County, said he was not surprised at the educational attainment ratings. He said Workforce Solutions has worked with area high schools and community colleges to increase graduation rates.