THE WORKFORCE INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
The Workforce Intelligence Brief.
Bi-weekly research on the data, policy and strategy shaping workforce outcomes across Texas and beyond. Written for university leaders, EDC directors and workforce board executives.
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TXSE on Y'all Street and AT&T on Legacy Drive just put DFW's corridor at full load.
AT&T committed $1.35 billion and 10,000 full-time employees on 54 acres of the former EDS campus in Plano. TXSE opened for trading in Dallas on July 8 with $275 million from BlackRock and Citadel Securities. Both moves stack on top of a corridor that has been carrying baseline demand from Toyota, JPMorgan Chase, Fidelity and Charles Schwab for years. The next 24 months are the window to size the pipeline.
Only 4% of short-term programs will qualify for Workforce Pell.
The U.S. Department of Education published the final Workforce Pell rule on May 19, 2026. Early implementation opens July 1. North Carolina expects only about 4% of existing short-term programs to clear the initial screens. The 70/70 outcomes floor and the Value-Added Earnings cap will decide which programs keep federal aid access.
Why does the job market feel broken even after 172,000 jobs were added?
May 2026 added 172,000 jobs, double the 85,000 economists forecast. Long-term unemployment is up 524,000 in a year. Entry-level tech hiring is down 73.4% while AI engineering postings grew 143% year over year. Workforce Pell goes live July 1 and the first HB8 downward adjustments hit Texas colleges in October.
93% of students say they are ready. 54% of employers agree. That gap has a cost.
93% of students believe they are learning the skills they need. Only 54% of employers agree. 69% of recent graduates require significant additional training after being hired. The institutions and regions closing this gap with real-time workforce intelligence will have a measurable advantage in enrollment, hiring speed and economic competitiveness.
Why talent now leads every site selection conversation in the top-performing regions
Texas landed 1,400+ business projects in 2025 with $75B in capital and 42,000 new jobs. The Area Development survey shows 100% of corporate respondents now rank skilled labor as important or very important. Workforce moved from slide 8 to slide 1.
Are we training people for the jobs that are coming?
18% of U.S. firms have adopted AI but 78% of the labor force works at those firms. $700 billion is flowing into AI infrastructure in 2026. Georgetown CEW projects a 5.25 million skilled worker shortfall by 2032.
A degree used to be a safety net. The data says it isn't anymore.
Recent grad unemployment hit 5.7% in Q4 2025 while overall unemployment held at 4.2%. Entry-level knowledge-work postings dropped 46-67% since 2018. Texas is building an alternative pipeline at scale with 40,000 active apprentices.
What 52% graduate underemployment really means for universities right now
More than half of bachelor's degree graduates are underemployed within a year of finishing school and 45% remain so a decade later. The new OBBBA earnings test takes effect July 1, 2026. Most institutions aren't ready.
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