Is Austin Underserved in Health Care...or is the Region?

We received an interesting follow-up question to our last post: what happens if you look at just Travis County?

The CAPCOG region consists of the following counties: Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, Travis, and Williamson. It's about 1.8 million people, with Travis County accounting for about 56% of the total population. As we mentioned in the last post, there are approximately 314 health care practitioner and support jobs per 10,000 people in the CAPCOG region, compared to 399 for the US. Texas comes in at 365.

Narrow it down to just Travis County and you get a different story. There are approximately 404 health care practitioner and support jobs per 10,000 people in Travis County--five more jobs than the US at 399. So maybe the more appropriate title would have been: Is Austin Underserved in Health Care...or is the Region?

Here's the Travis County versus US jobs per 10,000 ratio for all the occupation categories we have data for under health care practitioner and support jobs. Similar to how we presented the data in the last post, the number next to the occupation title is jobs per 10,000 people in Travis County and the number in parentheses is the US value. Data again is from EMSI. Calculations--and thus any errors--are ours.

Labor markets are regional so I'd hesitate to read too much into this Travis County versus Rest of Region without careful study. People can live and work in different counties and sorting out all the nuances of labor markets is messy business. But somebody should take this on.

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants 37.24 (49.99)
Registered nurses 74.79 (85.03)
Home health aides 27.96 (33.06)
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses 20.33 (24.30)
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other 0.59 (1.94)
Dentists, general 2.30 (3.19)
Medical transcriptionists 2.35 (3.17)
Psychiatric technicians 0.89 (1.69)
Physical therapist assistants 1.30 (2.07)
Medical and clinical laboratory technicians 4.32 (5.05)
Opticians, dispensing 1.69 (2.36)
Occupational therapist assistants 0.42 (0.90)
Physician assistants 2.08 (2.53)
Healthcare support workers, all other 6.13 (6.52)
Recreational therapists 0.41 (0.77)
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians 1.35 (1.65)
Dietetic technicians 0.55 (0.86)
Occupational health and safety specialists 1.54 (1.78)
Medical equipment preparers 1.61 (1.84)
Psychiatric aides 4.67 (4.87)
Dental hygienists 5.66 (5.81)
Prosthodontists 0.39 (0.46)
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons 0.53 (0.59)
Audiologists 0.65 (0.69)
Radiation therapists 0.57 (0.54)
Chiropractors 2.13 (2.09)
Dentists, all other specialists 0.63 (0.58)
Nuclear medicine technologists 0.83 (0.78)
Healthcare technologists and technicians, all other 2.84 (2.79)
Orthodontists 0.67 (0.59)
Pharmacy aides 2.16 (2.06)
Occupational therapist aides 0.52 (0.32)
Orthotists and prosthetists 0.77 (0.56)
Radiologic technologists and technicians 7.16 (6.89)
Optometrists 1.96 (1.68)
Physical therapist aides 1.84 (1.52)
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics 7.15 (6.78)
Athletic trainers 1.01 (0.58)
Occupational health and safety technicians 0.95 (0.43)
Respiratory therapy technicians 1.22 (0.57)
Diagnostic medical sonographers 2.40 (1.67)
Medical and clinical laboratory technologists 6.27 (5.54)
Dietitians and nutritionists 3.23 (2.44)
Podiatrists 2.19 (1.30)
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers 3.55 (2.66)
Health diagnosing and treating practitioners, all other 3.83 (2.88)
Speech-language pathologists 5.89 (4.82)
Therapists, all other 3.38 (2.28)
Occupational therapists 4.84 (3.61)
Massage therapists 4.83 (3.53)
Pharmacists 10.14 (8.82)
Dental assistants 11.20 (9.77)
Surgical technologists 4.56 (2.97)
Veterinarians 4.20 (2.38)
Physical therapists 8.73 (6.79)
Medical records and health information technicians 7.56 (5.60)
Respiratory therapists 5.39 (3.40)
Veterinary technologists and technicians 5.43 (2.56)
Physicians and surgeons 33.85 (28.98)
Pharmacy technicians 16.53 (10.77)
Medical assistants 23.71 (16.27)

Brian Kelsey