Shopping for work

San Antonio company saluted in ranking of best employers for grads

Is USAA a good employer for people entering the workforce? You can bank on it.

You already know you can bank with USAA, but have you thought about cashing in on a job, too? Well, if you’re a recent graduate, maybe you should.

A new ranking from Forbes and Statista puts the San Antonio-based insurance, banking, and financial company among the best employers in the U.S. for new grads. The No. 18 United Service Automobile Association employs 34,000 employees worldwide, with offices across the U.S. as well as in London and Frankfurt.

To create the list, which was published September 16, Statista surveyed 20,000 Americans with less than 10 years of experience working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees. Workers rated their employers on a variety of criteria, including workplace safety, competitiveness of compensation, advancement opportunities, effectiveness of diversity and inclusion efforts, and openness to telecommuting. Statista then asked workers how likely they’d be to recommend their employer to others, and to nominate employers in industries outside their own. The final list ranks the 250 employers that earned the most recommendations.

The nearly century-old company isn't just great for new grads, either. USAA has also made appearances on Forbes' Best Employers for Women 2020 (No. 98), America's Best Employers 2019 (No. 12), and Best Employers for Diversity 2020 (No. 68).

Coming in at No. 1 on the new grads list is Austin-based Whole Foods Market, which knocked Trader Joe’s off its No. 1 perch from 2019, pushing it into second place this year. On last year’s list, Whole Foods sat 39 rungs below where it stands now.

Forbes praises Amazon-owned Whole Foods for giving its full-time frontline workers a $500 bonus amid the COVID-19 pandemic and offering a 100 percent match of employee donations made to a fund aimed at helping coworkers who are struggling financially. Forbes also lauds Whole Foods’ career development initiatives, volunteer programs, and environmentally friendly practices.

USAA and Whole Foods aren't the only Texas companies to appear in the top 25. Dallas’ Southwest Airlines flies in at No. 11 and Austin-based Keller Williams Realty holds down the No. 25 spot.

lists rankings forbes

at least it's not utah

Texas is the 2nd worst state for women's equality, report says

Photo by Vonecia Carswell on Unsplash

Texas needs to work on closing many disparity gaps between men and women.

Texas, we have a major equality problem: The Lone Star State has ranked second from the bottom in WalletHub's new nationwide analysis of gender equality.

The personal finance website's annual "Best & Worst States for Women's Equality" report, published August 19, ranked Texas No. 49 out of all 50 states where where women receive the most equal treatment in the United States. Texas is accompanied in the bottom five by Utah (No. 50), Wyoming (No. 48), Idaho (No. 47), and Missouri (No. 46).

At the top of the list of the best states for women's equality is Hawaii (No. 1), followed by California (No. 2), Minnesota (No. 3), Maine (No. 4), and New Mexico (No. 5).

The study ranked each state based on 17 metrics in three key dimensions: Workplace environment, education and health, and political empowerment. Factors that were examined in the study include income disparity, job security disparity, the share of the population aged 25 and older with an advanced degree (higher than a bachelor's degree), and the disparity in the share of Congress members and other elected officials, among others.

Texas earned a miserable score of 39.75 points out of a possible 100. The state performed about average in the "workplace environment" equality rank, earning No. 23. But it fell far behind in the "political empowerment" ranking, scoring No. 40. The state landed at the bottom in the national comparison of "education and health" equality, ranking No. 49.

Texas' ranking may not come as a surprise for women living in San Antonio, where the gender pay gap in the city means men earn over $6,400 more than women. And somehow, this is one of the better metrics.

Here's how WalletHub broke down Texas' ranking, where No. 1 is the best and No. 25 is average:

No. 21 – Earnings Gap
No. 21 – Entrepreneurship Rate Gap
No. 22– Work Hours Gap
No. 32 – Executive Positions Gap
No. 40 – Unemployment Rate Gap
No. 40 – Political Representation Gap

Unfortunately, closing these disparity gaps in Texas (and elsewhere) isn't so simple, according to WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe. She said it's going to take much more than "giving men and women the same fundamental rights" to ensure true equality.

"States also need to work to make sure that women receive equal treatment to men when it comes to financial opportunities, education, and politics," Happe says in the report. "The best states for women’s equality have drastically reduced the disparities between men and women on multiple fronts."

According to WalletHub, the best state for women's equality is Hawaii, earning a score of 79.24 points out of 100. Hawaii has the third smallest gap in work hours between men and women, and no gap in the rate of men and women who are minimum-wage workers. Furthermore, the state has an equal share of political representatives that are men and women in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Things aren't looking good for Texas from WalletHub's point of view; In another recent study, the personal finance website also determined that Texas is the No. 15 worst state to live in the U.S.

The full report and its methodology can be found on wallethub.com.

texas wallethub reports rankings