But many residents don't have the required education for available jobs. The area of Texas that stretches along the Rio Grande is growing at a dizzying pace, with the population doubling in the past 20 years. New housing, highways and shopping centers are springing up.
Many businesses import technical and professional workers.
The same statement might have been made in the Fort Wayne area 30 years ago, but in this area a high school graduate, or even a dropout, could earn a good wage. A high school dropout who got a highly paid factory job could earn more than teachers and other college graduates. General Electric Co. Harvester in particular set the standard for wages in the entire region. The deep recession of the early 1980s in the Fort Wayne area forced a painful refocusing as many of those factory jobs disappeared. The change has been most striking in Allen County, where manufacturing employment has slid sharply as a percentage of total employment.