The agency is relatively young, created in 1996 when the state consolidated 28 employment-related workforce, training and education programs from 10 agencies, according to its website.
TWC has a distributed workforce, multiple websites, initiatives including virtual reality training programs and cooperative programming across agencies and municipalities.
Five of its strategies as listed in the 2022 Legislative Appropriations Request briefing include:
- Local Workforce Connection Service
- Local Youth Workforce Services
- Adult Ed and Family Literacy
- Trade Affected Worker Services
- Senior Employment Services
Facts:
Leadership: Executive Director Ed Serna has been in the role since August 2019. He joined the TWC in 2014 with prior executive experience in the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDOT) and multiple state agencies.
According to TWC, there are three commissioners who oversee the functions and policy of the agency. They are Brian Daniel, appointed in 2019, Aaron Demerson, appointed in 2019, and the third remains unappointed.
Chief Information Officer Heather Hall has been in the role since March 2019 and has worked in multiple state agencies over her career. Find her Industry Insider One-on-One interview from May here.
Budget: Estimated at $1.9 billion (about $6 per person in the U.S.) with a $71.9 million IT budget, according to Industry Navigator.* The IT department had the most spending in April and August of this year, and spent some $174.2 million on IT in 2021.
Staff: More than 4,900 full-time employees, and 256 are full-time IT.
When she spoke to Industry Insider — Texas in May, Hall listed key accomplishments in IT modernization and improvement from recent years:
- Created a chatbot to answer more than 100 questions in a new communications channel. The chatbot has answered over 20 million questions to date.
- Implemented a contact request form to allow customers to keep their place in line without waiting on hold.
- Instituted a learning system within the labor exchange system called WorkInTexas.com that helps Texans reskill.
- Automated open records processing using a new tool that allows for online requests, payments, and status updates.
- Implemented a Child Care Availability Portal to assist essential workers in finding child care.
- Created various portals to allow Texans to upload documents for TWC staff rather than faxing or mailing them.
*Industry Navigator is a product of e.Republic, which also produces Industry Insider — Texas.
