Sara Harris, Executive Director of the Midland Development Corporation, said they prioritize funding jobs with the greatest economic impact as these primary jobs stimulate numerous other jobs in the community. Harris was a guest on a recent episode of the Best of Midland Podcast.
"What we're looking for is something that the state defines as a primary job," said Harris on a recent edition of the Best of Midland Podcast. "It gets complicated to describe, but a primary job is a job that creates tiny portions of a lot of other jobs. When we're thinking about an attorney, they create a little bit of a few other jobs, maybe they need part of a doctor's care, they need part of a school teacher's care if they have kids, they need part of several different retail workers because they're going to go out to eat, they're going to buy clothes.”
“Whenever the state put together this list of jobs we can fund, they focused on the ones that were going to have the biggest economic impact on Texas," Harris said. “when we're looking at primary jobs, it's manufacturing, it's professional and technical services like engineering, it's oil and gas, it's agriculture, management of companies because economically they make the biggest impact. If you bring in a bunch of manufacturing jobs, that's one of the biggest drivers of a local economy."
Harris serves as the Executive Director of the Midland Development Corporation (MDC), which supports businesses currently in Midland and those considering relocating to the area.
Best of Midland Podcast is hosted by Ryan Shewchuk and Terra Avery. It is an extension of the broader Best of Midland program, which aims to support small, local businesses by showcasing them and the people behind them. Their website lists top businesses and upcoming live events happening in the area.
The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.