According to the US Census Bureau, El Paso has an estimated population of around 658,958 as of July 1, 2023. This puts El Paso as one of the top 25 most populated cities in the nation. Public sector jobs are jobs funded by government funds, like the jobs at the city, county or at the federal level. The schools and the colleges are also government jobs. Although there is a tendency to believe that public sector jobs are insulated from economic pressures, the pandemic in 2020 showed that public sectors jobs can struggle. In two months, more than 1.5 million state and local job losses were recorded in 2020 due to the pandemic. One of the hardest public sector jobs affected were the schools where many school workers were furloughed as the result of school closures.
The Trump Administration’s cost-reduction plans has been targeting federal jobs in recent weeks with thousands of government employees being terminated. In recent days, the administration has fired 10,000 federal workers across several federal agencies including the IRS and health-related entities.
In large cities, public sector jobs are a significant source of jobs, according to the 2024 Urban Institute’s Public Sector Employment and Its Role in Local Economic Development. According to the study, El Paso ranked 33rd of the 100 largest cities with the largest workforce share working in the public sector. According to the study, about 35% of the jobs are in the public sector. Less than 4% are military jobs, 11% are school jobs and 17% work in the public health industry.
According to Brookings, in 2020 a little over 15% of America’s workforce was employed in government jobs, including at the military, local, state and federal levels.
The State of Texas depends on federal grants for revenues. According to a 2016 note by the Texas State Comptroller, Texas’ second largest source of revenues for state projects were federal dollars. In 2016, Texas received $39.5 billion in grants from the federal government.
According to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of December 2024, El Paso’s civilian labor force was about 394,941 with 377,288 employed and 15,655 unemployed. There are about 50,268 employees working for local government entities, according to the data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This is the highest number of local government workers since 1992, when the local governmental bodies employed 31,406. The State of Texas employs about 10,288 El Pasoans. There are about 13,600 people working for the federal government. There are also about 3,000 more federal employees in Texas Congressional District 16. The district is bordered by Anthony in the north, the border on the southeast and Horizon City/Agua Dulce in the west. Ft. Bliss is included but the military personnel are not included in the federal government employee counts.
There are about 74,156 city, county, federal and state government workers in El Paso. This is around 19% of El Paso’s workforce. However, this does not include those working in the school districts.
The University of Texas at El Paso has around 4,000 employees including faculty, staff and students according to a January job opening posting by Opus Partners for an Assistant Vice President for Facilities. Opus is an executive search firm. A Fall 2023 El Paso Community College Fact Book published in September 2024 states that the community college employs 2,361 faculty and other employees.
Texas Tech Health Sciences Center at El Paso has around 2,000 employees. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a US government office, El Paso has 29,268 employees working in various school districts, including teachers and staff. (see list in note 2 below)
In total, according to the latest information available, there are around 103,424 El Pasoans working in the public sector. We excluded those working at UTEP and Texas Tech from the count because it is likely that they are part of the state employee count. Those working in the public sector are about 22% of El Paso’s working workforce. This is lower than the 35% reported by the Urban Institute.
Nonetheless, a significant part of El Paso’s jobs are at risk.
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Public Workforce Reductions Across El Paso
Although the ongoing federal workforce reductions will unlikely impact homeland security jobs like the Border Patrol, ICE and other border security jobs, nonetheless there are several federal jobs that may be affected. In addition, the school districts and the public health facilities depend on federal funds to operate.
For example, in 2021, the county commissioners approved a $92 million US Marshals Service contract to house federal inmates at the county jail. The federal contract, which expires later this year, is the county’s third-largest revenue behind property and sales taxes. In 2017, Richard Wiles told the commissioners court that the contract funds 200 jobs. Wiles was defending the contract when Vince Perez argued canceling it, calling it hypocritical for accepting the money to jail migrants while the county advocated for them.
On Tuesday, Jaime Esparza was removed as the US Attorney for the Western District of Texas, according to the El Paso, Inc. Esparza told the Inc. that his removal was expected because he was a political appointee. Esparza, however, added that federal prosecutor employees “are concerned that that they will suffer a reduction of force,” and “lose their jobs.”
Socorro ISD trustees voted yesterday to terminate around 300 school employees to help balance its budget. The move to reduce its workforce was before the federal workforce reductions and the move by the Trump Administration to cut federal costs across several departments.
School districts depend on state funding based on the day’s student census for the federal and state monies. The school districts receive around $60 per student each day that they attend school, according to a January 6, 2025, Attendance and Truancy Audit for Coronado High School. Federal funding accounts for about another $4. The Ysleta Independent School District is considering a loan to help with its budget while El Paso ISD shuttered ten schools in 2024 to help balance its budget. These school workforce reductions happened before the federal government embarked on cost cutting measures.
Yesterday, the US government halted payments to non-profits helping migrant children. The halt in payments stopped $3 million annually going to Estrella del Paso which used the money to pay for attorneys and support staff.
It is not only the direct jobs paid for by government dollars that are in danger but also the private jobs dependent on the salaries of the government workers that would also be affected. This does not include any disruption to international trade should the Trump Administration pursue its tariffs against Canada and México.
In the 1990’s a realignment of military forces moved the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment out of Fort Bliss to Fort Carson. El Paso lost over 10,000 soldiers, damaging El Paso’s economy. In 2005, another round of military base closures resulted in 24 major bases closed across the nation. El Paso was spared the loss of Fort Bliss and ended up with the 1st Armored Division growing the military population back to over 30,000. Over $5 billion was invested to keep Fort Bliss in El Paso, helping the El Paso economy.
An informal survey by Veronica Escobar on Facebook shows that the top concerns for 2025 from 168 respondents were “saving social programs (medicare, soc.security)” at 21%. This concern was followed by 20% of the respondents who are concerned about Constitutional issues. At 18% was concerns about Elon Musk. Only 8% cared about public education and 11% were concerned about the costs of groceries and gasoline. There was not an option for government jobs.
It is not clear how far the Trump Administration will look to reduce the federal budget over the next few years, but any continued reductions and trade interruptions will likely affect El Paso jobs and its economy. This economic threat does not include the continued pressure on the school jobs due to student enrollments continuing to drop.
Notes:
- the Federal Reserve Bank numbers used herein are seasonally adjusted and are for December 2024.
- School staffing according to the National Center for Education Statistics:
Clint ISD has about 706 teachers and 1,663 staff employees.
El Paso ISD has about 3,359 teachers and 7,261 staff employees.
Socorro ISD has about 2,191 teachers and 5,375 staff employees.
Ysleta ISD has about 2,395 teachers and 5,878 staff employees.
There are also five additional smaller school districts in El Paso operating from one to three schools. In total they have 191 teachers and 249 staff employees.