CEDSSummary Background People & Communities
Top Occupations by Industry
See which occupation groups appear across the five county panels and the industries they support.
- Core Occupations
- Transferable Skills
- Targeted Training
Compare the Five Counties
The seven rows collect every occupation group that appears in at least one county’s top-five panel. Select a county to bring its listed groups forward. A colored dot means inclusion in that historical panel; a dash means the group was not among that county’s five shown. A dash does not mean the occupation is absent from the county.
Where the Occupation Groups Appear
Historical Purdue county panels · 2001–2021
Showing all five county panels. Three groups appear in every one.
| Occupation Group | Chaves | Eddy | Lea | Lincoln | Otero |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office & Administrative Support5 of 5 County Panels | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Sales & Related5 of 5 County Panels | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Management5 of 5 County Panels | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Transportation & Material Moving4 of 5 County Panels | ● | ● | ● | — | ● |
| Construction & Extraction3 of 5 County Panels | — | ● | ● | ● | — |
| Food Preparation & Serving2 of 5 County Panels | ● | — | — | ● | — |
| Military-Only1 of 5 County Panels | — | — | — | — | ● |
Presence in a top-five panel is a useful way to see overlap. It does not show how many people work in a group, the share of county employment, the order of the five groups, wages, or today’s vacancies.
How Occupations Connect to Industries
The same occupation can support very different employers. Purdue’s inverse staffing examples help translate the county panels into a more practical question: where might a skill be used, and which parts of that skill need industry-specific training?
Service and Coordination Work
Office support, sales, and management appear in all five county panels. The report connects them with local government, schools, physician offices, retail, agriculture, hospitality, and oil-and-gas services, depending on the county.
Planning use: Build transferable communication, customer service, administrative, and operations skills, then add the rules and tools of the specific employer.
Energy, Construction, and Logistics
Construction and extraction appears in Eddy, Lea, and Lincoln; transportation and material moving appears in four counties. In Eddy and Lea, the report names oil-and-gas support, pipeline construction, and freight. In Lincoln, construction examples include homes and site preparation.
Planning use: Validate which certifications, equipment skills, safety practices, and driving credentials employers actually require. The same broad occupation label can lead to different jobs.
Hospitality and Military Work
Food preparation and serving appears in the Chaves and Lincoln panels, with restaurant, hotel, and casino examples. Otero’s panel uniquely includes a military-only occupation group, tied to federal military activity.
Planning use: Treat these as distinct pathways. Hospitality skills, federal hiring requirements, and civilian support roles should not be collapsed into one training response.
Key Insights
The value of the comparison is in matching a common regional foundation with specific local pathways.
Start With Skills That Travel
Office support, sales, and management appear in every county panel. Connect shared training to multiple employers, then make industry-specific requirements visible.
Specify the Technical Pathway
Broad labels such as construction or transportation cover different work settings. Ask local employers to identify the exact credential, equipment, safety, and experience needs.
Design for County Differences
Energy-related industries shape many Eddy and Lea examples; hospitality stands out in Chaves and Lincoln; Otero includes military-only work. County partners should test the right route for their residents.
Refresh Demand Before Acting
The source panels end in 2021. Compare today’s postings, wages, workforce availability, and provider capacity before setting a training target or calling an occupation hard to fill.