Hurricane Harvey Impacts Houston MFG
Hurricane Harvey Impacts Houston TX MFG Industry
Americans have watched in horror this past week seeing the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey. The Houston Texas area was hit the hardest, which includes the Houston TX manufacturing community.
The exact monetary amount of damage is debated heavily. A risk modeler for Bloomberg states the storm will cause up to $75 Billion in economic loss, while CNN also gave a figure of $75 Billion, with Accuweather estimating that Harvey will have caused a $160 Billion dent in the economy. For perspective, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 cost the economy $160 Billion.
The manufacturing community of Houston Texas, which is currently the most populated city in Texas, was no doubt impacted by this horrendous storm. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) states that manufacturers in Texas account for 15.22 percent of the State’s output and employs 7.33 percent of the Texas workforce.
These percentages may sound small, but as of 2013, manufacturing in Texas accounted for $233 Billion+ of output. In 2014, the industry employed 890,200 Texans and as of 2012, there were over 17,000 manufacturing companies in the state. As the past four years have gone by since these figures were recorded, these numbers have more than likely grown, since in 2013, manufacturing only accounted for 871,700 jobs in Texas, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
How can we help, in this time of need?
In terms of general services, you can donate money or blood to the Red Cross or offer shelter for free to impacted families through the AirBNB Disaster Response Program.
As far as helping the manufacturing community of Houston, which is no doubt already impacted by an existing skills gap and having to pick up the pieces from Harvey’s wake, there are a few ways to help. Students who are taking STEM or machinist course work in local schools or colleges can volunteer to help, as well as those who have retired recently from the manufacturing field can temporarily help.
Shop Floor Automations wants to assist manufacturing companies in the Houston TX area by offering heavily discounted services. To help assess the damage done to your productivity and tools, please visit this page or call (877) 611-5825