Texas Comptroller Visits Tyler

Texas Comptroller in Tyler for Good for Texas Tour: Women in the Workforce Edition

(TYLER) — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar visited Tyler today as part of his Good for Texas Tour to highlight women in the Texas workforce and their impact on the Texas economy. Hegar is celebrating the work of Janie Clapp, founder of Janie’s Cakes.

Clapp, who founded Janie’s Cakes in 1987, sells all-natural pound cakes fresh from her bakery and ships them around the country through online and mail-order sales. The bakery, also run by Clapp’s daughter, Katherine Crow, has been featured on Good Morning America and The Jimmy Kimmel Show. In 2016, it made Oprah Winfrey’s Favorite Things List.

“The focus of this tour is to highlight the profound impact Texas women have on the health of the state economy,” Hegar said. “Women like Janie and Katherine, and the leadership they provide, are crucial to our future economic growth across all industry sectors, and that includes the accommodation and food services sector, which contributes $47.4 billion annually to the Texas economy and employs about 600,000 women across the state.”

During his Good for Texas Tour: Women in the Workforce Edition, Hegar is sharing the results of a study the Comptroller’s office recently completed examining the impact of women on the Texas economy. He is touring facilities and meeting with some of the exemplary women who hold leadership roles in all sectors of Texas’ economy.

Clapp attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, before initially opening Janie’s Cakes in a room of her own home. Besides supporting any Texan with a sweet tooth, the bakery also supports some charities including the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Children’s Advocacy Center of Smith County and others.

“I feel strongly about charitable giving on a personal level, but I also believe that small businesses and corporations have a responsibility to support the communities that make them successful,” Clapp said.

The accommodation and food services sector, together with the arts, entertainment and recreation area, make up the leisure and hospitality industry, which is heavily driven by trends in consumer spending. Texas women in this industry generate additional business activities that ultimately support about 530,000 jobs in other industries throughout the state economy.

In all, nearly 6 million women held jobs in Texas in 2017. Texas’ women-owned businesses employed 808,200 workers and generated about $134.2 million in sales.

“I hope this tour also will underline the need to ensure women have equal access to advancement in the workplace,” Hegar said.

Further efforts are needed to eliminate barriers to women’s entrepreneurship and access to top-level positions. Along with the leisure and hospitality industry, several of the most women-dominated occupations in Texas — personal care and service, healthcare support and office and administrative support — are among the lowest-paid occupations in the state.

And even in higher-paying occupations, such as healthcare and technology, the share of women employed in the highest-paying jobs is significantly smaller than that of men.

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