Page 555 - Fort Worth City Budget 2019

City Profile

Major employers in Fort Worth include AMR/American Airlines, Lockheed Martin, JPS Health Network, Cook
Children’s Healthcare System, Tarrant County, NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Fort Worth Independent School
District, Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, Alcon Laboratories, City of Fort Worth, Bell Helicopter,
and Genco ATC. Manufacturing and distribution remains an important part of the Fort Worth economy. The list of
companies in distribution and manufacturing operations include Acme Brick, Alcon Labs, Allied Electronics, ATC
Logistics & Electronics, Haggar Clothing, Federal Express, J.C. Penney’s, Mother Parker’s Tea and Coffee, Coca-Cola
Enterprises, Ben E. Keith Co., Miller Coors LLC, Williamson-Dickie, Pratt Industries USA, Inc., NGC Renewables, LLC,
Carolina Beverage Group, LLC, GE Manufacturing Solutions, and The Dannon Company.

A released economic impact study by The Perryman Group credits oil and natural gas exploration for adding $11.8
billion in gross product per year and more than 107,650 permanent jobs to the North Texas region. Oil and gas
production, driven by the Barnett Shale, has provided a number of economic benefits from exploration, drilling and
related activity. Covering approximately 5,000 square miles and 25 counties the annual tax impact is about $480.6
million to municipalities, counties and other governmental entities, as well as $644.7 million to the state of Texas.
The Barnett Shale has yielded over 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas with about 18,000 wells in the shale since
2001. That’s 66 percent more than the 9 trillion cubic feet in 2011 and despite only 19 rigs operating in the Barnett
as of September 1, 2014. The study credited almost 40 percent of the region’s incremental growth since 2001 as a
direct result of Barnett Shale activity. Despite tepid pricing for natural gas and the recent decision by XTO to
consolidate their Fort Worth offices in new facilities in The Woodlands, the energy industry remains a strong and
important segment of the local and regional economy.

The city’s industry clusters remain diverse with trade, transportation, and utilities making up the largest percentage
of the Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Division (MD) industry composition at 24%. Since 2010, trade,
transportation, and utilities companies have grown considerably adding over 41,500 jobs to the area. Education and
health services, manufacturing, retail trade, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality are also
large sectors, comprising 13.0%, 9.2%, 11.4%, 11.0%, and 11.4% of the Fort Worth’s workforce, respectively.
Emerging economic sectors include aerospace manufacturing and design, life sciences delivery and innovation,
geotechnical engineering, and transportation innovation.

There are over 41,313 registered business firms in the Fort Worth-Arlington MD. About 50% of these businesses are
small to mid-size firms that employ anywhere from one to 249 individuals, which highlights the continued
importance of small business development. Large business firms with over 1,000 employees make up the other half
of the area’s workforce.

LABOR FORCE

The Fort Worth-Arlington MD boasts a strong labor force of 1.2 million that continues to grow. The Fort Worth-
Arlington MD has experienced positive annual employment growth since the summer of 2010. The unemployment
rate of 3.8% is still less than the 4.5% state unemployment rate and the 4.5% national unemployment rate through
August 2017.

516