Aqua Book II: Coastal Bend trends in occupations

CORPUS CHRISTI – The Coastal Bend economy is supported by approximately 50,000 firms and a total of 13,000 business establishments, according to Dr. Jim Lee’s second edition of Aqua Book.

Some, like the oil refineries and industrial plants in the Corpus Christi Port District, are remarkably large, each hiring thousands of employees. Yet the majority of businesses, the backbone of the local economy, are fairly small.

Most local family-owned restaurants and auto repair shops, for instance, operate with no more than ten full-time employees. On average, a business in the region hires 18.6 employees.

The growth trend of businesses in the Coastal Bend has lagged behind the rest of the nation. The region gained only 4 percent in business establishments between 2001 and 2014, less than one-third of the national growth rate at 15 percent.

Over this same period, the region’s employment grew 16 percent. The faster growth rate in the employment level than the growth rate in number of businesses means that the typical business has expanded in terms of the number of employees.

Judging by the number of business establishments across industries, the Coastal Bend economy is well diversified. The largest sector is retail trade, which accounts for no more than 15 percent of all businesses in the region.

Other major sectors are health care which comprises 12 percent of total businesses, and accommodation and food services which account for 11 percent.

Click here for the complete PDF of Aqua Book II.

See previous story. No Beige, no Green! Aqua Book colors the Coastal Bend.