As population increases, two employment sectors keep pace

Similar to how Northwest Houston has mirrored the growing population of the Bayou City, the two key industries in the area—energy manufacturing and health care—are the biggest markets of job growth.

The oil and gas sector seemed to have moved in because of the amenities while health care has cropped up out of sheer necessity, according to experts.

"Businesses are looking at the Houston market and are seeing the neighborhoods where the growth is happening, and they want their employees to have good schools and resources," said Leslie Martone, president of the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce. "When new businesses come in from out of state, they realize the transportation issue we have (in the Greater Houston area) and some of them want to set up in the same neighborhood where their employees live. We have been developed to the point that we give people the feeling of being out of the big city but still have the advantages of living in Houston."

Energy manufacturing

Considered a residential community a decade ago, many energy manufacturing companies have moved to and set up headquarters in Northwest Houston.

"Houston is the energy capital of the world," said Sue Cruver, spokesperson for Workforce Solutions. "Many energy companies are headquartered here and many are expanding their facilities, a number of them doing so in North/Northwest Houston. The rise in oil prices and the shale exploration boom in Texas are driving much of the current job growth. With national demand and increasing international demand for energy, the region will continue to see strong job growth in this sector."

ExxonMobil has plans for the largest development in the area, building a campus that will house 8,000 workers south of The Woodlands.

A key factor that makes the Houston region ripe for energy manufacturing jobs is its location in South Central United States.

"We are equidistant from the East and the West Coast markets and business centers, making us the logical transportation and distribution hub in the nation," Cruver said. "The Port of Houston is number one in the U.S. in foreign tonnage, and it is preparing to accommodate new traffic that will come from the expansion of the Panama Canal."

Most of the energy-related companies that have been in Texas for years have expanded, particularly ones in the natural gas field due to dealing with shale deposits.

Oceaneering, a Northwest Houston-based company that provides products to the offshore oil and gas industry, had a record earning year in 2010, said Peg Newman, manager of marketing for Oceaneering. The company has quadrupled in size in just over 10 years and now employs more than 1,150 locally.

With headquarters at FM 529, Oceaneering's facility is a good access point for the company's shipping needs since it is so close to Beltway 8 and Hwy. 290.

"Our location gives us great access to the port and access to the airport," Newman said. "This helps get things to our regional office in Morgan City, Louisiana easier."

According to the Greater Houston Partnership, one of the biggest areas of growth in the energy sector is the exploration and production subset, which has added 3,600 jobs in the last year. Additionally, the oil field services area added 8,000 jobs since recovery from the recession began in 2010.

"There is a link between the prosperity of the oil industry in general and the prosperity of Northwest Houston," said Patrick Jankowski, Greater Houston Partnership's vice president of research. "So many of those plants that are in the northwest corridor manufacture oil field equipment and tools that are related to harvesting natural gas."

Health care

Due to the area's population growth, health care facilities have expanded to keep up.

Last March, the Cy-Fair Medical Center Hospital opened an emergency room and imaging center.

The hospital brings in about 30 new physicians into the community to fill various needs each year although the hospital may not directly employee them, said Terry Wheeler, chief executive officer. The medical center itself has a staff of about 1,000 people.

"Health care is growing in the Northwest Houston area because it is becoming increasingly hard for patients to go inside the Loop [610] for care due to transportation issues," Wheeler said. "The reality is that our area is still growing despite the recession so consequently there is a need for health care here to keep up with the community's rapid growth."

The opening of the North pavilion at Methodist Hospital Willowbrook in 2010 created the need for about 300 new nursing staff. The expansion houses the Heart and Vascular Center, Stroke Center, imaging services, operating rooms, cardiac catheterization labs, a pharmacy, lab and chapel.

North Cypress Medical Center opened in 2007 as a 67-bed hospital. It is now a 175-bed medical center complex with two remote emergency locations, a cancer program, brain surgery, spine surgery, orthopedics and heart programs.

North Cypress Medical Center's total staff has grown from 200 to 1,600 in five years.

As for future job growth in the industry, the greatest need is registered nurses, according to Workforce Solutions. There is also the need to fill a variety of other technical fields, such as radiologic technologists, physical, respiratory and occupational therapists.

"Health care is the one sector that never lost jobs in the Houston economy during the recession," Jankowski said. "One reason is because our population continued to grow, which increased the number of people that used health care services whether it was home visits by nurses or emergency health care. And the health care demand will continue to grow as the population ages."