Job seekers looking to tap into Houston's growing energy industry
Three months after immigrating from Afghanistan, Afdavuddin Ashran can't believe what happened.
"For a new starter like me, it's a great honor and a great chance to start a new career in the U.S.," Ashran said.
Ashran received a jumpstart from the Texas Construction Career Pathways pre-apprenticeship program. Instead of taking out loans, students spend three weeks learning about jobs where they earn while they study.
In all, 20 graduated from the free program on Friday.
"I didn't have the dedication to go to college," graduate Johnny Gonzalez IV said. "That wasn't for me. Now that I've been introduced to this, I think it's a better option than college for me."
Energy jobs are in demand, and even more growth is coming
The program the students completed focused on clean energy jobs, which Houston economic leaders say are one of the region's hottest industries.
"Those are three areas - energy transition, aerospace, and life sciences - where we see lots of exciting future job opportunities," Greater Houston Partnership economic development senior vice president Craig Rhodes explained.
Growth is about to get even more significant.
"It's certainly an exciting day to be the mayor of Houston," Mayor John Whitmire said.
Whitmire said a Chevron executive told him the company plans to move its headquarters from California to Houston. Whitmire said the executive gave him credit as to why.
"He told me they did that because they're bullish on Houston, and they have confidence in my administration that we will address challenges that I inherited, like public safety," Whitmire explained.
However, economic leaders in California told ABC13's sister station KGO that Chevron has been shifting corporate jobs to Houston. Also, the state's clean energy push may have been too much.
Right now, Chevron said there are two thousand workers in California. The plan is to move all corporate functions over the next five years.
Rhodes said Chevron hasn't told him why it decided to move to Houston now. He said, generally speaking, there are several factors that explain why companies are coming.
"The access to talent and workforce that's here in Houston is a major draw, as is the connectivity we have with our infrastructure, our airport system, our central location in the U.S., and certainly this is the Energy Capital of the World," Rhodes explained.
SEE MORE: Chevron announces it is moving headquarters from California to Houston, Texas
Companies are migrating, but job growth has slowed
Chevron isn't the only company that has moved to Houston. Greater Houston Partnership data shows the second quarter of this year has seen a big increase in new facilities and expansions compared to last year, with 46 new facilities compared to 26 and 148 expansions compared to 32.
Job growth is slowing.
From May 2022 to 2023, 130,000 jobs were added, compared to about 80,000 during the same time frame last year.
"It might look like a slowdown," Rhodes said. "I think we're really getting back to a normal pace for what we would see."
The Greater Houston Partnership said Chevron becomes the fourth Fortune 500 company to move its headquarters to Houston in the last five years. There are 24 such companies in Houston, trailing only New York City and Chicago.
Eyewitness News asked Whitmire and Greater Houston Partnership which company could be next, but neither declined to say.
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