Texas’s manufacturing roots lie with its agricultural processing—cotton gins, cottonseed mills, meatpacking plants, flour mills, oil field equipment, and canning plants. These days, the state’s largest employment sector is categorized as the “trade, transportation, and utilities industry,” which includes jobs in retail, wholesale, and finance.
Jobs in the petroleum, construction, and service industries are also typically steady across the state. Texas’s top exported products are chemicals, petrochemicals, and transportation equipment. The state’s remarkable number of exports is attributed to its proximity to Mexico, which receives nearly half of Texas’s products. Texas is also responsible for a large number of U.S. exports to Mexico.