Austin Texas has found itself to be quite an attractive place for tech firms to park their headquarters.  Over the past decade, companies like Dell, IBM, and Freescale Semiconductor have helped to give the Austin economy what it needs to perform on a national stage.  The city has also been a hotspot for college and university-related jobs and activities, owing nearly 100,000 jobs to these sectors.  But recently Austin has been really feeling the pinch of the economic downturn and has had to begin to take a new look at how it monitors and makes changes relative to the health if its local economy.

Austin’s labor force is lightly younger than the national average, and since its has seven universities located in and around the city, there is quite a bit of competition in the tech and other highly skilled employment sectors.  Austin is an amalgam of many business sectors and provides employment opportunities in literally hundreds of different categories.  The healthcare, transportation, logistics, tourism, education, and software industries all provide Austin with rich employment opportunities.

Lately, Austin’s been able to pick itself up and has had very good luck in creating more and more jobs even as the US economy has continued to decline.  From late 2007 to mid 2009, Austin’s economy had shown some signs of slowing, but as of July 2009, many of the city’s key job growth and economic indicators turned positive once again.  This gradual economic recovery seems counter-intuitive when compared to the rest of the nation’s recession-related woes, but when the larger picture is considered, there is little wonder why Austin is on its way back to a better economic climate.

The very reason that Austin is so successful as a hub for high tech and high skilled job opportunities is the very same reason why it has begun to climb out of the recession.  Austin has a very diverse employment environment, and this diversification, like we have seen with so many other relatively successful cities, has also helped keep Austin’s head above water over the past couple of years.  Cities that have learned to diversify their economy have enjoy much better economic health than other cities that rely heavily on one or two specific industries.

Many lessons can be learned from a city like Austin.  Employment rates suffer in places of economic stagnation and flourish in places that diversify their economy.  The unemployment rate in Austin fell from 6.4% in April 2009 to below 6% by the end of the summer.  This is much better than other Texas cities have fared.  Other factors like the 2001 Texas Economic Development Act have helped to create some diversity in the region, especially in Austin.  This act offers tax refunds and rebates for Texas-based businesses to relocate to economically stressed locations in the state.  Many Austin-based companies have done just that, not only helping Austin’s local economy but other cites’ as well.  Austin will likely be able to dig its way out of the recession with little outside help, and will be a place of real economic opportunity once the economy begins its long slog back upward and out of the doldrums of the recession.