Relocating to San Antonio | Relocation Resources for Moving to San Antonio

Your spouse has just been offered a promotion that requires relocating to San Antonio. This is a wonderful opportunity for your family; however, it does pose a certain dilemma for you. You are now the “trailing spouse,” the person who follows a partner who is relocating to a new city. While your spouse is guaranteed a job, you are left to find one in an unfamiliar city. You have heard San Antonio has a burgeoning job market with a wide array of opportunities in a variety of fields. The bad news is you are unsure where to begin looking for your dream job. To assist in your job search, this chapter Relocating to San Antonio has been designed to guide you through the process. The following pages offer an overview of San Antonio’s current job market, primary employment sectors, industry growth and employment resources.

The San Antonio Job Market
Most recently, Forbes Magazine reported that San Antonio had the third-best job market in the country. This impressive job market is fueled by growth in the health care and bioscience industries, as well as the military and military contracting. Furthermore, the economy in San Antonio has been largely immune to the national economic downturn. As evidence, the current unemployment rate in San Antonio is 6.8 percent, which is significantly lower than the national unemployment rate. Finally, what little effect the economic downturn has had is quickly on the mend, as Forbes Magazine has ranked San Antonio second on its list of America’s Fastest-Recovering Cities.

Many Fortune 500 Companies are based in San Antonio including Tesoro Petroleum Corp., Valero Energy Corp., NuStar Energy, USAA and Clear Channel Communications. The area is also home to the corporate headquarters of large companies including H.E.B. Food Stores, Bill Miller Bar-B-Q, Southwest Research Institute, Harland Clarke, Kinetic Concepts, Inc., and Taco Cabana. San Antonio’s four primary economic forces are government, health care, finance and tourism. Furthermore, the city maintains a diversified employment sector with key industries including:

Government.
Trade, transportation and utilities.
Educational and health services.
Professional and business services.
Leisure and hospitality.
Financial activities.
Manufacturing.

Government
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is one of San Antonio’s largest economic forces with a multi-billion dollar impact on the city’s annual economy. In 2006, the DoD’s estimated economic impact was more than $13 billion. This number is growing significantly thanks to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 which, is one of the largest economical development projects in San Antonio’s history. It is estimated that the BRAC will generate an additional $8.3 billion in positive economic growth through last year and a subsequent annual impact is estimated at $2.9 billion. The DoD is San Antonio’s largest generator of employment with an estimated 200,000 employees. The BRAC will support additional employment of more than 46,000 due to increased construction through the previous year. After next year, the BRAC’s impact will support the employment of more than 11,000 additional people.

The BRAC has already generated positive momentum in San Antonio’s construction industry. During the height of construction, there were more than 2,200 local construction workers employed across the bases. Last year, more than $700 million in construction contracts were awarded and another $300 million in contracts is expected next year.

Health Care
The health care and bioscience industry is the dominant force in San Antonio’s economy, largely due to the 900-acre South Texas Medical Center. According to the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, one out of every seven employees in San Antonio works in the health care and bioscience industry. The industry has an annual economic impact of $16.3 billion and employs more than 116,417 people. Not included in these figures are the economic results of the Wilford Hall Medical Center and the Brook Army Medical Center. Together these two facilities employ more than 4,400 military medical personnel and 2,434 contract employees. In addition, the University of Texas Health Science Center employs more than 5,035 faculty and staff members.

Tourism and Hospitality
The tourism and hospitality industry has an annual economic impact of more than $11 billion, making it an integral part of San Antonio’s economy. One out of every eight employees in San Antonio works in the tourism and hospitality industry. The industry’s current workforce is comprised of more than 106,311 people. San Antonio is host to more than 20 million visitors per year, with over 700,000 of them attending an event at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. The Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center is an economic force of its own, generating rental revenues of $4.3 million and $17.7 million in catering sales. Convention delegates spend more than $416 million in San Antonio every year. A total of 12,000 of the city’s 30,000 hotel rooms are located in the downtown area and near the convention center.