New data points to more growth in Texoma labor force

SHERMAN, Texas (KXII) - The numbers are in for last year’s workforce data, and it’s pointing to a whole lot of growth in Texoma.

“In 2022, we continued to see more people entering the workforce,” said Janie Bates, executive director of Workforce Solutions Texoma.

She said in 2022, the Sherman and Denison area welcomed almost 2,000 people to the workforce.

‘I think we’re seeing the growth because the Texas economy is so strong, and we continue to see these large companies either relocating to our area or expanding,” said Bates. “Right here in our area, we have the TI expansion.”

Together, Texas Instruments, Global Wafers, and Finisar could bring in more than 5,000 jobs to the area and a lot of interest in local positions.

Bates added the largest influx of workers coming to Grayson County for these manufacturing jobs probably won’t arrive until late 2024, just before TI fully opens.

“We had a job fair a few weeks after they [Finisar] started taking over that building, and we had 125 people come to line up right in front of their booth because it was exciting, it was new, and everybody wanted to work on building parts for iPhones,” said Bates.

More than 33,000 new people joined the Oklahoma labor force in 2022.

Locally, Bryan County’s workforce grew by 1300 last year.

“As new people come in, we’re going to see more people available to fill those jobs, and it’s our role at workforce to try to prepare those people to go into those jobs,” said Bates.

To Bates, perhaps the most interesting new information is the number of people working from home.

“It was actually 38 percent of the employed people did some or all of their work at home,” said Bates.

It’s those numbers that reflect the changing way Texoma works and lives in a growing economy.

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