New jobless numbers show that the nation as a whole added fewer jobs than expected last month. Here in Texas, things appear better, but there are still plenty of people out of work — and as Matt Largey of KUT News reports, the job market can be an especially daunting place for those who are out of work the longest.
Economy
Get the latest on jobs, business, growth, and policy shaping the state’s economy with in-depth reporting from The Texas Tribune.
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Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: The Railroad Commission Should Be…
For this week’s installment of our nonscientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we asked whether the Texas Railroad Commission should live or die and whether the commissioners ought to be appointed or elected. And we asked for suggestions on what government is doing now that it ought to stop doing.
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Economy
The Efficiency Experts
“Efficiency” is the buzzword heading into the 2011 legislative session. Lawmakers say they want to make sure the dollars spent on K-12 education are being spent as efficiently as possible — and that anything deemed inefficient could end up the chopping block. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.
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Economy
The Efficiency Experts
“Efficiency” is the buzzword heading into the 2011 legislative session. Lawmakers say they want to make sure the dollars spent on K-12 education are being spent as efficiently as possible — and that anything deemed inefficient could end up the chopping block. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.
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Economy
Incentives Under Fire
Gov. Rick Perry’s office has asked a member of the Emerging Technology Fund’s advisory committee to consider resigning over a recent investigation into a stock deal — the latest dustup involving state incentive funds. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.
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Economy
Emerging Trouble for Incentive Funds
Governor Rick Perry’s office has asked a member of the Emerging Technology Fund’s advisory committee to consider resigning over a recent investigation by the Texas Rangers. This is just the latest dust up over this fund and the Texas Enterprise Fund. Ben Philpott of KUT and The Texas Tribune reports on what could happen to the funds in the next Legislative session.
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Economy
There Will Be Blood
Ask House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and he’ll tell you: The budget he and his fellow finance types will put forward in a few weeks confirms fears that carnage is looming. “We’re making huge cuts,” he told a Tea Party group last week.
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Economy
The Weekly TribCast: Episode 56
In this Thanksgiving week TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Ben discuss speaker politics, the 2012 Senate race and the latest Texas job numbers.
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Economy
TribBlog: Pitts Sees Deep Cuts Ahead
State budget writers will propose eliminating agencies, cutting others to a quarter of their current size and mandating furloughs for state employees to balance the budget without raising taxes or using the state’s Rainy Day Fund, Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts told a hometown crowd.
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Economy
Holding Steady
Texas’ unemployment rate stabilized in October at 8.1 percent as the state added almost 48,000 jobs. That rate, the lowest we’ve seen in 2010, is 1.5 points below the national average. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on the numbers behind the gains.