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UTB-CBIRD Report: “At The Crossroads” Economic Development 111
both the number of firms and employees. Webb County has the largest number
of firms in freight transportation (512), trucking and courier services (280), and
scheduled air transportation (10). Hidalgo County has the regions’ largest
number of firms in passenger transportation (20) and is comparable to Webb
County in trucking and courier services. Hidalgo has 43 public warehousing &
storage firms that support 277 employees, while Webb County’s 42 firms
support a larger workforce of 601.
Table 5. 8. Number of Firms and Employees for Transportation Industries
Industries
(4th Cameron Cameron Hidalgo Hidalgo Webb Webb
County County County County County County
quarter average for 2000)
Firms Employees Firms Employees Firms Employees
Air Transportation, Nonscheduled 4 46 3 14 4 15
Air Transportation, Scheduled 9 334 4 321 10 239
Airports, Flying Fields, & Services 4 54 3 71 4 108
Freight Transportation Arrangement 62 658 73 701 512 6,672
Misc. Transportation Services 6 28 5 76 9 73
Passenger Transportation Arrangement 17 83 20 150 12 73
Public Warehousing & Storage 33 471 43 277 42 601
Trucking & Courier Services, Ex Air 149 1,549 270 2,311 280 3,642
Trucking Terminal Facilities N/A N/A 5 26 4 31
Water Transportation Of Freight, NEC N/A* N/A* N/A N/A 29 1,953
Water Transportation Of Passengers N/A* N/A* N/A N/A 28 570
Water Transportation Services 2 317 N/A N/A 4 41
*Confidential Source: TWC Tracer
Shift-Share Analysis
Overall, Cameron County shows a Logistics & Distribution Location Quotient (LQ)
of 1.37 (close to the national average) for employee growth, however the region
shows a higher-than-national-average LQ for water transportation (2.75),
warehousing and storage (2.56), and other fixed facilities and services (3.08),
Figure 5.12. In total, the Logistics and Distribution cluster added 550 jobs from
1995 to 2000.
Overall Cameron County is competitive in the Logistics & Distribution and
Transportation Services industry sectors as all but two regional sub-sectors (Air
Transit and Other Transit) have grown faster than would have been expected
based on national trends, Figure 5.13. The largest employer of these sub-sectors,
railroad and freight, falls into the challenge category due to its declining national
influence while still gaining local employment. A majority of sub-sectors (highway
and local transit, warehousing and storage, air transportation, and other fixed
facilities and services) fall within the asset quadrant, which is defined by
increasing local and national employment.
The LQ for Transportation Services (Figure 5.12) was 0.57 in 2000, a slight
increase from 0.34 in 1995. Employment in this cluster doubled from 300 to
600, 1995-2000. The only Transportation Services cluster that has an LQ above
1.00 is Highway and Local Transit (1.14).
One Region -- One Future