Machinist Thinking of Moving to Houston (Howe: apartment, unemployment rate, college)

[madcity machinist]

I am currently living in the Madison, WI area and am looking into possibly moving to the Houston area. Done some research on the net and it seems as though the Houston area has a strong manufacturing base. However, I know some of that information may be outdated and I wanted to see if anyone could tell me what the current situation down there might be. There is virtually nothing in the area where I live now. I do have a 2-year diploma from my local technical college and 15 years experience in the machining trades. Also, anyone have any suggestions on where to live? I will probably need to live in an apartment to start off. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Poltracker]

So many people w/ the same problem looking to Houston for answers. It is really sad. Houston, unfortunately, does not have all the answers or jobs for that matter. Houston is holding its own but the myth that it is doing well is not true. There are plenty of folks without work around here and more may be joining them before too long. I suggest that if you want to come to Houston, you secure a job first unless you have savings to hold you over for a good while. Another problem is that Houston is huge. It takes an hour + to drive across the Houston Metro area and that is without traffic. You will want to secure somewhere to live in relative proximity to where you work. There are places all over town that hire machinists but most will be on the east and west/northwest sides of town.

[cjester]

The good news is that the latest unemployment figures, that came out yesterday shows that the unemployment rate has dipped to 8.2 percent, a couple months ago it was 8.5 percent. Most large U S cities are still continuing to shed jobs.

[chad.roper]

I am a machinist too I have experience with mills, lathes, boring machines, gun drilling, punch presses, press brakes, rollers, shears, saws, and swedging machines. You may want to wait about a year before moving here. A lot of machinists including me have been laid off and the machinists jobs are not paying nearly what they were 2 years ago. I am going back to work where I got laid off from back in Feburary. I had to take a 1.60 an hour pay cut. Also a lot of the places now seem like they want people with just a little experience that only know how to do 1 or 2 things im guessing so they can pay less. I went to a job interview at Texas Arai and the interviewer told me "we really don't want someone with programming experience".

[Oildog]

Glad to hear there is some hiring going on in the manufacturing sector.

[k3e2n10]

I just left Houston last Friday after living there for two years. I have 15 years working as a machinist on both C.N.C and manual machines. There is some work there even in this still suffering economy. Most of the companies are hiring through the staffing agencies 15.00 - 21.00 hr. is the average depending on your experience and machine ability. The vast majority of work is for the oil industry, alot of large heavy stuff. BUT do not go there with out a vehicle. That is what killed me. The bus system is okay and cheap, but as someone else said the city is huge. The other thing is that the companies there chew you up and spit you out. You will not get much time to get in that particular companies groove. Maybe a week before they say "nexxt".So start running, fast,very fast. Good luck.