Competition for Rio Grande Valley workers is heating up

Dozens of job seekers peppered recruiters representing more than 25 different employers in the Rio Grande Valley with questions about open roles at the Jose “Pepe” Salinas Memorial Recreation Center in Pharr this week. 

One person looking to enter the workforce for the first time was McAllen native Valeria Perez, an 18-year-old who graduated from a local school district high school in May. 

Perez said that although she envisions a future as a commercial electrician wiring retail centers and holds an Occupational Safety and Health Administration certificate, she doesn’t expect to stay in the Valley in her early career as an apprentice. 

Even her mentor, a local electrician who was paired with her in high school, suggested she may have to travel outside South Texas for work until she gains more experience. 

Perez said she’s noticed most commercial electrical companies in the Valley are too small or unwilling to hire an entry-level electrician’s helper as she’s begun searching for work for the past month. 

So this fall, she expects to work in a retail supermarket and applied for one big-box retailer and one local grocery store chain at the Pharr job fair. She doesn’t have retail experience but has volunteered in the community through her school. 

“I have experience with customers, and I’m good with people,” Perez said, identifying her generation as Gen Z. “I have multiple certifications; I want to be an electrician, but it doesn’t really matter right now. But in the future I do wish to move because down here in the Valley there’s not many opportunities. I don’t really wish to have kids, but I do want a bunch of cats and dogs. I’m more like an animal person, and that’s expensive.” 

She plans to further her electrician education remotely and expects to be hired outside South Texas for her first on-the-ground job in the vocational trades. 

“Right now, I’m just trying to get work experience,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that I want to get my master [electrician’s] license. I feel like there’s jobs available, but not one [for someone] who wants to specialize as a [commercial] electrician. That’s why I take all these classes and workshops, and I’ll have to pay to be able to get that experience. I would like to stay here for the time being until I’m a little more financially stable. I’m responsible with bills and all of that, but sooner or later I do want to go ahead and move up north.” 

Some commercial electrical companies headquartered in the Valley are hiring for entry- and mid-level positions, according to their websites. For example, McAllen-based Benmar Electric, founded in 2001, is hiring an electrical helper and does not require extensive experience, but its website did not disclose a salary. 

Metro Electric, a commercial electrical company with offices in McAllen and Brownsville, posted job openings for more experienced roles on its website, but it also did not disclose salary information or job applicant deadlines. 

Neither Benmar Electric nor Metro Electric had a booth at the Pharr job fair. 

Tuesday’s job fair is one of dozens hosted across the Valley by the state-led Workforce Solutions office whose coverage area includes Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy counties. Workforce Solutions has a separate office for Cameron County. 

Another job fair is planned in Alton and Donna in the coming days; interested individuals should contact Workforce Solutions for more information. 

The goal is for Workforce Solutions to offer customized options for both job seekers and employers alike, but sometimes in-person job fairs don’t match what the public is seeking with the types of jobs or pay scales available on any given day. 

For example, employer booths in healthcare, car dealerships, retail, and law enforcement appeared to be swamped with interested candidates, while some logistics companies, such as trucking, drew less interest over several hours. 

But there’s been an increase in interest from local employers and larger companies from outside the Valley in recent years in these job fairs, said Julio Salinas, a spokesperson for Workforce Solutions. And since COVID-19, local salaries have increased slightly to reflect more competition from remote roles. 

Workforce Solutions estimates that between 700,000 and 900,000 working-age adults live across Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties. Roughly 300,000 more live in Cameron County alone. 

“We have a lot of new companies here in the Valley participating in our events,” Salinas said. “Some of these companies never thought of participating in our events; they thought that we would charge, but we don’t. Workforce Solutions is a free service to the job seekers and to the employers; we are funded by the Texas Workforce Commission, and we are a nonprofit.” 

Beyond that, employers of any size, including small businesses, can be paired with a business services representative to help recruit potential employees, train existing employees, pay for some education, offset internship costs, or temporarily subsidize wages, depending on the situation. 

Some recently recruited companies making major investments in the region, such as Valeo, recently hired its first intern in McAllen, economic development officials told the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal. Some of the company’s executives have also recently relocated to the region. 

The arrival of major employers like Valeo, with projected higher-than-average salaries, could push up wages for similar talent, Salinas said. 

Local family-owned grocery store chain Junior’s Supermarket had Elizabeth Chavez, vice president of development and community engagement, working the booth in Pharr, where she met with potential applicants and still sent emails on her laptop during slower moments. 

Business executives may not be a common sight at job fairs, but the company has dozens of open roles and hopes to stand out with a more robust healthcare benefits package, mostly subsidized by the company for full-time employees, Chavez said. 

“It’s definitely getting more competitive. If we’re a launching pad for some of these folks, maybe the younger generation, so be it. But we also want folks to understand that there are career possibilities here at Juniors and we tend to promote from within,” Chavez said. “We try to remain as competitive as possible with our entry-level salary and benefits. One of the things that helped us stand out is that Juniors pays for most [of the health insurance] at the most basic level. We want to ensure that our employees are well taken care of.” 

So that means while competitor retailers may offer higher wages per hour, they may offer only part-time work and not offer healthcare benefits, so the compensation package could be lower, she said. 

Junior’s Supermarket is also planning an expansion with a new location in the mid-Valley in the coming years. The business also focuses on upward mobility for its workforce as another retention strategy, she said. 

The next major job fair that every Workforce Solutions office is expected to host will be in mid-November at the McAllen Convention Center on Nov 17. 

Interested companies seeking a free booth at the event, which is expected to draw more than 1,000 job seekers, including those with U.S. military experience, can join the 150 businesses by contacting the Workforce Solutions center’s corporate office in McAllen near 29th Street and Business 83. 

Companies eager to attract the young, educated workforce from the Valley are expected to attend, including the City of Corpus Christi Police Department, Salinas of Workforce Solutions said. 

“They know that the talent is here and it always works out for them; they love recruiting from the Valley,” he said.