Miracle or Mirage, What Kinds of Jobs Has Texas Created?
It is not a mirage or a miracle; it is a fact. Nearly half of all net jobs created in the United States since 2009 have been in Texas. It is also a fact that Texas’ unemployment rate, currently at 8.4 percent, is the highest it has been since 1987, even though it is below the national rate of 9.1 percent.
As Gov. Rick Perry continues to tout Texas’ low-tax, low-regulation business climate as the secret to the state’s relative economic strength, critics have pointed to Texas’ unemployment rate and low-wage jobs, noting that Texas ties Mississippi ...
Comments (20)
Mark Paulson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
That's pretty sad when you have a large population of one percenters here bringing that average way up to what it is.
Robert Adams via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The model of the American economy under Perry??
Jennifer Hoppe via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I think its due to large numbers of illegals combined with large numbers of people on gov assistance combined with all the new people moving here....just my opinion.
Kim Possible via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I was just a smidge over, and that's working overtime and holidays. Gotta love the low wage state we live in. Cheap labor is one readon companies move here.
Kim Possible via Texas Tribune on Facebook
*reason
Bonnie McGuire
It's a no brainer why business' like Texas. They have a huge work force to pick from while offering practically nothing in return because of the low-regulation. This would be a miracle if Rick Perry had brought jobs with decent pay/benefits and job security to Texas rather than a bunch of flippin' burgers jobs or Wal-Mart jobs where the employer encourages their workers to apply for public assistance to supplement their non-living wages but still expects them to buy stock in Wal-Mart.
David Huang via Texas Tribune on Facebook
You can take away the illegal immigrants and all the people living on government assistance and it isn't going to make a damn difference. Minimum wage jobs are always going to be minimum wage jobs.
Judy Ann Brownlee via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Keep in mind that the cost of living is much lower than many other places, especially housing.
Rodney Marsden via Texas Tribune on Facebook
David, what I wanna know is how that is even a variable when figuring the median wage? It makes NO sense!!!
Jaime Salinas Aguaristi via Texas Tribune on Facebook
And we got the second lowest cost of living people. That means you can make more somewhere else and not be able to afford as much. You might make less in Texas but you can afford to buy more stuff, move to California and see if you can afford to live indoors with a 7% raise.
Bea McGuire via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Cheap labor that they're allowed to treat any way they want, from changing job descriptions to cutting pay while increasing workloads to job termination at their whim. Great for a companies' bottom line, but sucks for workers. Thank goodness my spouse has worked in a Union shop for the last 32 years.
Rudy Gonzales
Perry in not for pro-growth, he's for enriching his buddies and close friends! This Yahoo continues to morph into what he thinks people want to see, hear and read as he now seeks the backing of the TEA party elitist. With no degree in Economics or Sciences, he spews manufactured lies as though he is knowledgeable. Perry's use of the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, development programs that offer capital for entrepreneurs with the goal of luring job-rich businesses to the state, to Perry's personal advantage. Face it - It's open season on Rick Perry and the failing TEA party as they are on the national scene now and they're in for a rude awakening! Perry is not a job making machine. The jobs he claims to be responsible for, are the federal jobs created. A liar and pseudo head, America needs to investigate him thoroughly and still not vote for him as he professes to TEA party loyalist and openly courts their backing. TEA party-ers have already corrupted and de-bunked the GOP, the defunct GOP are steering away from their radical narrow-minded rhetoric. Perry condemned President Obama’s stimulus and bailout package, he actively courted these funds, plugging the $6 billion hole in his previous budget almost entirely with stimulus money. Perry’s problems extend beyond his mediocre fiscal performance. He also has a crony-capitalism problem. Grants from two funds he created, ostensibly to seed tech startups and lure companies, found their way into the pockets of his campaign contributors. This won’t go down well with voters weary of government waste and abuse, especially since Perry had final authority over the funds, and not an independent agency as is usually the case. Worse, Perry refused to axe these programs even to plug the deficit. Perry’s constant jousting his strong jobs record has been lying to the Texas voters and not the nation'a voters.
Marga Simmons via Texas Tribune on Facebook
As a fully qualified and experienced teacher whose job was eliminated by my district and now, regardless of being very proactive in trying to find a new one has been reduced to taking unemployment, I harbor much against Rick Perry and his refusal to use the Rainy Day Fund. I knew then and know now it was his attempt to impress the Tpartiers and apparently he did a good job.
Bea McGuire via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Rodney, I think David was commenting on Jennifers' post. And basically saying what you did, those groups are variables that shouldn't be included in the figures.
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@Marge and lots of teachers voted for Perry. Amazing!
Mike Openshaw via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not figuring in the LOWER COST OF LIVING here kind of skews things doesn't it?
Rodney Marsden via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Lower cost of living as compared to where?
M G
Yeah, cost of living compared to where? Obviously it is better than Los Angeles, New York or Boston, but those areas are a lot more expensive than their states on average. If you compare cost of living and average salaries by metro area, a lot of places compare favorably to Texas. I compared Austin, TX to Madison, WI and Hartford, CT, and the CoL is similar and in those 2 places people make higher salaries. We have to take into account that most jobs are in TX metro areas, and the metro areas are more expensive than the state as a whole. Yeah I bet I can get a house in Midland or El Paso a lot cheaper than Austin, but there are not the same kinds of jobs there.
Kelly Kaufhold
Becca, thank you for including this in your story:
“The most common occupation sectors in Texas were office and administrative service, sales, and food service…Together these occupational groups made up more than a third of employed Texans…But the same pattern can be observed in both national numbers and nearly every state”
But why not apply the same standard in your opening graph:
“It is also a fact that Texas’ unemployment rate, currently at 8.4 percent, is the highest it has been since 1987”
Well, yes…and oil was at $16 a barrel and Texas was suffering a vicious local recession in the late 1980s which also had a big impact on home prices. If you want to look at historical rates, consider these numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Michigan had an unemployment rate of 16.8% in its worst year, 1982; West Virginia hit 18.1% a year later, in 1983. And yet unemployment in Texas has NEVER been worse than 9.3% (in 1986). We’re only at 8.4% because 1,000 people per day are moving here – it’s why only Texas is adding four new districts to the House of Representatives (no other state is gaining more than two).
Here’s the most important number: Ten years ago, Texas ranked 37th in the nation for unemployment; now it’s 20th and climbing…which corresponds exactly with Rick Perry’s tenure as governor.
Daniel Horowitz
Ask any rencent law school graduate or business school graduate in the State of Texas and see if they agree that Texas is the best state to find a job.