Critical Skill Shortages Project: Addressing Potential Skill Shortages in Wireless Technology in Greater Austin

Authors: Robert W. Glover, Suzanne Hershey, and Christopher T. King
Date: October 2005
Publication Type: Report, 16pp.

The Critical Skills Shortages Project began with an examination of the nine targeted industry clusters that the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce (GACC) launched in 2004 in its five-year “Opportunity Austin” campaign to promote economic development.  The project assessed the suitability and receptiveness of each of these industry clusters for implementing workforce development efforts to remedy labor shortages and support the growth of the cluster.  The project sought to identify mid-skill occupations in demand that could emerge into a labor shortage situation.  To meet the criteria for selection, these occupations also should be suitable for targeting by the workforce system and employers in the industry sector should be sufficiently organized and receptive to collaborate on analyzing factors contributing to the shortages and to participate in the remedies.  On the basis of this initial assessment, the project narrowed its focus to two of the most promising clusters: biosciences and wireless technology.   Both industry clusters are targeted in the Chamber’s Opportunity Austin campaign and in Texas state-level economic development initiatives.  Both selected industry clusters are emerging industries, populated by small firms, and characterized by fast changing technologies.  Both biosciences and wireless technology have strong university-based research support in Austin.  In each of these clusters, there are approximately 100 firms located in the Greater Austin area.  However, at this time, neither cluster has an anchor firm.

Critical Skill Shortages Project: Addressing Potential Skill Shortages in Biosciences and Biotechnology in Greater Austin

Authors: Robert W. Glover, Suzanne Hershey, and Christopher T. King
Date: October 2005
Publication Type: Report, 20pp.

The Critical Skills Shortages Project began with an examination of the nine targeted industry clusters that the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce (GACC) launched in 2004 in its five-year “Opportunity Austin” campaign to promote economic development.  The project assessed the suitability and receptiveness of each of these industry clusters for implementing workforce development efforts to remedy labor shortages and support the growth of the cluster.  The project sought to identify mid-skill occupations in demand that could emerge into a labor shortage situation.  To meet the criteria for selection, these occupations also should be suitable for targeting by the workforce system and employers in the industry sector should be sufficiently organized and receptive to collaborate on analyzing factors contributing to the shortages and to participate in the remedies.  On the basis of this initial assessment, the project narrowed its focus to two of the most promising clusters: biosciences and wireless technology.   Both industry clusters are targeted in the Chamber’s Opportunity Austin campaign and in Texas state-level economic development initiatives.  Both selected industry clusters are emerging industries, populated by small firms, and characterized by fast changing technologies.  Both biosciences and wireless technology have strong university-based research support in Austin.  In each of these clusters, there are approximately 100 firms located in the Greater Austin area.  However, at this time, neither cluster has an anchor firm.

Critical Skill Shortages Project: An Assessment of Root Causes for Skill Shortages in the Wireless Industry in Greater Austin

Authors: Robert W. Glover, Suzanne Hershey, Christopher T. King, and Deepshikha Roychowdhury
Date: August 2005
Publication Type: Report, 65pp.

In a previous report, we assessed the nine industry clusters targeted by the GACC according to their labor market suitability and their potential for industry engagement. On the basis ofthis assessment, we chose two industry clusters for further work: biosciences/biomedical/pharmaceutical products and wireless technology. Both clusters are emerging industries, populated by small firms, and characterized by fast changing technologies.  In each of these clusters, about 100 firms are located in the Greater Austin area. Both clusters hold promise for significant development in Austin.  After securing agreement from our WorkSource Board advisors, we conducted further investigations of the biosciences and wireless technology clusters.  This report summarizes our findings on the labor market in wireless technology in Austin.

Critical Skill Shortages Project: Recommendations for Selection of Two Key Industry Clusters for Further Work

Authors: Robert W. Glover, Suzanne Hershey, Christopher T. King, and Deepshikha Roychowdhury
Date: June 2005
Publication Type: Report, 48pp.

This report reviews the nine industry clusters that the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce has targeted for economic development in its “Opportunity Austin” campaign to recruit and retain jobs in Austin.  The report also compares Austin’s target clusters with the Texas statewide economic development efforts, and it assesses the suitability and receptiveness of each industry cluster for implementing workforce development efforts to remedy labor shortages and support the growth of the cluster.  We seek to identify mid-skill occupations that are emerging into a labor shortage situation.  These occupations should be suitable for targeting by the workforce system and employers in the industry sector should be sufficiently organized and receptive to collaborate on analyzing the root causes of the shortages and in contributing to the remedies.

Critical Skill Shortages Project: An Assessment of Root Causes for Skill Shortages in Biosciences and Biotechnology in Greater Austin

Authors: Robert W. Glover, Suzanne Hershey, Christopher T. King, and Deepshikha Roychowdhury
Date: July 2005
Publication Type: Report, 37pp.

In a previous report (Glover et al, 2005), we assessed the nine industry clusters targeted by the GACC according to their labor market suitability and their potential for industry engagement. In this report, we chose two industry clusters for further work: biosciences/biomedical/pharmaceutical products and wireless technology. Both are emerging clusters, populated by small firms, and characterized by fast-changing technologies. About 100 firms in each cluster are located in the Greater Austin area. Both hold promise for significant development in Austin. After securing approval from our WorkSource Board advisors, we have conducted further investigation of the biosciences and wireless technology clusters. This report summarizes our findings to date on the labor market in biotechnology/biomedical/pharmaceutical products in Austin.