The College of Business Administration hosted its ninth annual economic forum which focuses on a study of the economic conditions in Kleberg, McCulloch and Zapata counties.
It was held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the Grand Ballrooms of the Student Memorial Building.
These three Texas counties all have a similar oil well count. The host for this year was Christi Craddick with the Railroad Commission of Texas.
“Roads are important, pipelines are important and rails are important,” Craddick said.
Citizens drive on these roads and marketing the ports are going to increase infrastructure.
Dr. Thomas Krueger with the College of Business Administration presented three primary components which included demographic aspects, economic conditions and the economic survey. Each component was introduced in question and answer format with five main questions. The first component, the demographic aspect, determines the county’s populations, age distributions, ethnicities, education levels and housing statistics. The second component, the economic conditions, studied the county’s cost of living, the poverty wage and minimum wage. The final component includes personnel, Kleberg County and United States’ economic health over the coming year. It also gave the perspective of Texas A&M University- Kingsville’s support of business for the last nine years.
“The economic forum brings together business managers, political leaders and university personnel to evaluate the current economic conditions and plan for the future,” Dr. Krueger said.
Bringing managers, political leaders and students together was a huge part of the survey in determining the demographic and economic conditions of Kleberg County and in Texas.
“It opens your eyes to exactly what kind of opportunities are out there whenever you graduate or just while you’re here in school and the type of work you want to be in,” Sarahi Vasquez, marketing major student, said.
This annual event brings to light different types of information and insight on the economic background of Kleberg County, and the importance of the oil and gas industry.
Dr. Krueger ended with more insight and the purpose of the Economic Forum.
“This economic forum is just designed to help you understand a little bit about what’s going on in terms of the demographics, the economics and what people are seeing, their biggest concerns, how they spend money, where they see the future,” he said.