Unemployment Comes to Austin

Approximately six months ago a call center in Austin, Texas announced that they would be adding 500 new jobs. The PRC LLC center had planned to expand their staff to meet demands of an unidentified Fortune 500 telecom company whose business they had recently acquired. This is no longer scheduled to happen.

PRC LLC recently announced that instead of expanding their Austin call center they will be closing their doors early next year. According to company spokesperson, Alicia Miyares, the company has decided to streamline the operations of their programs, which will make closing the center necessary. This will cause the loss of about 400 Austin jobs, a drastic let down for those who were expecting the center to bring new positions to the area.

The Fort Lauderdale, FL. Based PRC opened the Austin called center in September of 2006, planning to have 500 staff members by June of this year. Shortly after they begun planning the expansion that will no longer occur. The company's clients have included Expedia.Inc, Hotels.com and British Airways. Customer service jobs paid between $10.50 and $12 and hour and such benefits as healthcare and 401(k) plans.

PRC says that they have informed all 400 employees that will be effected. Miyares went on to say that "We were thrilled with the work force here, and we are going to do our best in the next 60 days to help them find their next job.” 

With the number of call centers located in Austin, it should not be too difficult for those effected to find jobs in Austin. According to the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, the city currently has 63 major call centers that are responsible for employing approximately 31,00 people.

The area's unadjusted employment rate dropped in October to 3.3 percent, which is lower than the state's average. Between Austin and Round Rock 2,600 new jobs were created that month, which means their should be pliantly of opportunities outside of other call centers if those effected should chose to change careers.