El Paso Brain Drain - Why? (Houston, Austin: how much, job market, high school)

[zdg]

I'm not one of the folks who is asking if there is a brain drain in El Paso; I already know the answer to that question. I'm part of the problem. What I'm asking is...why doesn't anyone make a bigger effort to stop this problem?

Some background:

I grew up in El Paso; from 4 weeks old through high school at Coronado. Like almost all kids, I hated where I was from and couldn't wait to leave for college. At the time, I thought it was just me, but then I realized as I got older that no kid likes where they are and think the grass is greener elsewhere.

I moved to Austin for 10 years to attend the U of Texas and then to open up a business. I was pretty sure I'd never leave and there was certainly nothing about El Paso that made me ever want to return. Sure, my family was there, but that's what holidays and telephones are for.

When we sold our business, I returned to grad school to become a CPA. The dot bomb had just happened in Austin and getting a job was truly impossible. I was lucky to find a job in accounting through a family friend back in El Paso, which I was reluctant to take. My wife, who wasn't from El Paso, was very excited. Good Mexican food, nice people, great weather, etc, etc. All the things everyone promises in El Paso. She didn't even care that her in-laws would be in town. So we moved back.

At first, I was excited as well. I decided to put away my preconceived ideas from my childhood about how much I hated El Paso. I decided I would embrace it and find all the positives. We were very happy. We ate well, put on about 35 pounds each, and I had what I thought was a good job.

Then I started to quickly realize something...all my friends were gone. I don't just mean some of my childhood friends, I mean all of them. All moved on to bigger "better" cities. Why was that? Wasn't El Paso a glorious place with great weather, cheap housing, and three meals a day of artery clogging manteca?

After 9 months at my job, the roof caved in. I was screwed at every turn by my CPA firm (these were friends of my family!) and was forced to quit. When I tried to start up my own practice, it became clear that the dreaded "Brain Drain" I had heard about was real.

El Paso, to me, was about resting on your laurels. Finding a groove and sitting in it until you die. Everyone who seemed to be making a lot of money (I don't mean El-Paso-lot-of-money, I mean an actual lot of money) were people who were heavily connected through their families and who had already made it. I wasn't able to find anyone in their 30s who seemed to be using home-grown talent to grow a viable business.

After a year of growing my own business by farming out important thinking services to other cities, my wife had lost all excitement for El Paso and we ran like hell. Never to return.
We now live in a tony part of Houston where I'm able to hire PhD students who can spell their own names by placing an ad online; something I was never able to do in El Paso. We have ethnicities beyond "Hispanic". We have things to do that don't just involve looking at "history."

I know why WE returned to El Paso and then left again, taking yet another highly educated professional out of the job market there. My question is...why is everyone else leaving, never to return? Obviously, I know there are exceptions to this. I'm not trying to prove an all-or-nothing rule here, I'm saying that in general, El Paso loses the advance degreed humans at a higher rate than any other large city I've ever been to.

Why doesn't El Paso (and El Pasoans by extension) take a much bigger priority in retaining the people who are interested in growth and expansion? The med school is a huge step in the right direction. But why isn't there more done?

We have no state income tax, no winters, no humidity, the best Mexican food on earth, and a 1.5 hour flight from the Pacific or Gulf of Mexico. All the tough parts are done! Why isn't there more of an infrastructure in place to retain and/or attract young professionals? Thoughts? Ideas?

[el borracho]

i like every one else left and it was for one thing money i was making about 18 grand here ,than i moved to denver and i made about 44 grand there ,city council take note maybe you guys can raise the min wage here like santa fe did ,who can survive here on min wage ,if you guys on city council weren't to busy doing things against the law maybe you could better the quality of life here

[zdg]

Raising the minimum wage isn't the problem.

People with advanced degrees aren't making minimum wage. I wasn't trying to start a discussion as to why there isn't enough money for everyone in El Paso (a whole other discusssion for a different thread), I'm asking why El Paso isn't a lot more interested in attracting people who want to make $100,000+ a year minimum.

[HoneeBee]

You are so right about EP losing advanced degreed individuals to other cities. I truly don't know what it is or how to explain it. Like you, I was born and raised in EP and high tailed it out of there as soon as I graduated from Bel Air. I only returned for holidays and summers. I ended up in SA where I work as an RN. Last year my mother fell ill. My husband and I decided we should be by family. So I thought I would interview at the local hospitals. I was native, highly experienced RN, fluent in Spanish. With healthcare and the nursing shortage being what it is, I was certain I would land a pretty good job. Needless to say, I was met with extreme resistance and unprofessionalism at all of my interviews. No one wanted to hire me and after meeting them I didn't want to get hired. I would be losing about 20k a year if I had made that move. There was no way I could take such a pay cut and have to pay more in taxes. Needless to say, I'm glad that I didn't make the move. Most of my friends were gone as well. Moved on to bigger, better cities that offered more in every aspect.(jobs, money, entertainment, etc..)
El Paso has potential. A whole lot more potential then any other border town that I've been to. I don't know why there is resistance to change or new growth. El Paso has always been in it's own little world and unfortunately I don't see things changing anytime soon.

[el borracho]

it is about min wage its where it starts, employers see that people will work for peanuts here so it affects people with degrees ,it's the trickle up effect employers see that so they pay less here even the same companies have a different pay scales for the border i work for a major co. located in co,the starting wage in co. is 13.00 hr for csr and the starting wage here with the same co. is 7.50

[zdg]

Right; and that's what kills me.

El Paso has a lot more going for it than Phoenix did 40 years ago; but somehow Phoenix managed to turn a sweltering, waterless, heat bath into a retirement haven and sprawling metro area. Why? What did they do differently? They have state taxes! The food wasn't in the same galaxy as El Paso! The weather is unbearable for months at a time.

And yet, here we sit...El Paso can't attract anyone while PHX has more money than it knows what to do with and is one of the fastest growing areas on Earth.

[zdg]

Originally Posted by el borracho

it is about min wage its where it starts, employers see that people will work for peanuts here so it affects people with degrees ,it's the trickle up effect employers see that so they pay less here even the same companies have a different pay scales for the border i work for a major co. located in co,the starting wage in co. is 13.00 hr for csr and the starting wage here with the same co. is 7.50

Well, I think what it would do is cause a lot of the labor-factory type jobs like telemarketing and payroll processing to go to where ever the next cheapest town is. But I don't see where it helps attract 20 and 30 somethings with Masters degrees to town.

If employers had to start paying the lowest wage earners more, it would mean a short term increase in unemployment, because it wouldn't mean more dollars to spread around, just more dollars for a few people and no dollars for others.

I'm not saying you're incorrect, and would love to see a study on it, but my guess is that places like Colorado have a higher minimum wage from the other side. If you have a lot more advance degreed humans there, some will have to take crappier jobs. And if you want to retain those people doing crappier jobs, you'd better be paying them more than $6/hr. Not to mention that the minimum wage jobs in Colorado aren't the same as they are in El Paso. The priority placed on education is significantly higher in Colorado than in El Paso. One thing that will never fail to amaze me is the lack of priority on education on the border.

[el borracho]

yeah i agree ,ooo yeah on a lighter note i still cant find any gorditas in denver j.j's where are you

[holmes]

I too am a native el pasoan (more or less). I was born here and grew up in the NM side of the upper valley. I did my undergrad at NMSU and went to grad school at IIT in chicago. I lived there for 5 years before moving back here. In that period I thought there would never be a chance in hell I'd be able to work in my profession here in el paso. But here I am. Been here for 2 years. And yes, I took a pay cut. I'm considering moving into government in my field as the private sector still undervalues its workforce. Ironically, my wife was offered more here in el paso. She works in the medical field so it worked out. However, if that had not been the case I don't think we would have moved back.

The city really needs to get more high tech industry here, but what we do have is a start. I'm hoping some new blood comes to town to help drive up the wages of the professionals that are here, my field included. More service jobs or call centers aren't what we should be shooting for here. Honestly, I think the best shot the city's got right now is the health care field. I'm hearing lots of good things (the medical school, MCA, etc). Hopefully once we get a critical mass of healthcare related research in town, we'll see some spinoff industry.

You make some very good points. The cycle of mediocrity is a tough one to break. I've seen some progress, but I think the citizens of el paso deserve more.

[clashman]

zdg, Great post. Thanks for telling your story. I am faced with that exact situation right now. I have a decent job but I am under employed. I have a Master's and belong in a higher position than I am. It's probably time for us to leave but it is very hard to go and have no family. That is our biggest dilema right now. We moved away before and came back because of a family illness. We returned and are happy , but we feel like we are cutting ourselves short by taking jobs that are not close to living up to our potential. I wish we could have the best of both worlds.

I think local politicians are to blame for this town not progressing. Most of them don't have an education and are used to dealing under the table. We need new players to gain power and change the backwards and selfish thinking. El Pasoans accept the bones that are thrown at them and never raise the bs flag. It's our lack of education and culture that is also to blame. The border doesn't foster a culture of change. Maybe I have also succumb to that culture? Scary. Sorry for rambling.