Rick Perry And Texas Job Numbers

Full disclosure: I don’t like Rick Perry for our next president. I have my reasons that aren’t worth going into here. However, when I was watching the GOP debate and pro-Perry people started bringing up Rick Perry’s job numbers as a cudgel against other candidates, I looked into the BLS data on Texas jobs. Having familiarized myself with the data, I started noticing claims on the Texas jobs data that started popping up that directly contradicted what I was seeing in the data. So I wanted to clear up a couple of these common misconceptions.

Note: If you are going to comment and you want to introduce some new objection to the Texas job numbers, you MUST provide original data. I spent about 4 hours digging through raw data to write this post. I don’t want you to point to some pundit or blog post and take it on their authority, because I’ve already researched several idiot pundits who are talking directly out of their asses when it comes to the data. I want you to point to the raw data that I can examine for myself. This means links. I refuse to waste any more of my time on speculative bullshit or “Well, I’ll wager that the Texas jobs don’t really count because…” If you’re willing to wager, take that money and put it towards finding the actual data. In short, put up or shut up.

I’m not cranky, I swear.

Anyway, let’s deal with the complaints in no particular order:

“Texas has an unemployment rate of 8.2%. That’s hardly exceptional.”

See… that’s what I thought when I started looking at the data. I knew that Utah had a lower unemployment rate than Texas and I kept hearing that Texas was go great at jobs, blah, blah, blah, so I looked up the unemployment rate.

Nothing special.

So I was going to drive my point home that Texas was nothing special by looking at their raw employment numbers and reporting on those. That’s when I saw this:

This may not look like anything special, but I’ve been looking closely at employment data for a couple years now and I’ve become very accustomed to seeing data that looks like this.

In a “normal” employment data set, we can easily look at it and say “Yep, that’s where the recession happened. Sucks to be us.” But not with Texas. With Texas, we say “Damn. Looks like they’ve recovered already.”

(To get to this data, go to this link http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/dsrv?la then select the state or states you want, the select “Statewide”, then select the states again, then select the metrics you want to see.)

But if Texas has so many jobs, why do they have such a high unemployment rate? Let’s take a closer look at that data.

As a percentage of the number of pre-recession jobs, here is a chart of the growth of a selection of states. (For clarity, in this chart I selected a number of the largest states and tried to focus on states that have relatively good economic reputations. I did not chart all 50 states b/c it would have taken me too long.)

We can see that Texas has grown the fastest, having increased jobs by 2.2% since the recession started. I want to take a moment and point out that second place is held by North Dakota. I added North Dakota to my list of states  to show something very important. North Dakota currently has the lowest unemployment rate of any state at 3.2%. And yet Texas is adding jobs at a faster rate than North Dakota. How can this be?

The reason is that people are flocking to Texas in massive numbers. Starting at the beginning of the recession (December 2007), let’s look at how this set of states have grown in their labor force.

As you can see, Texas isn’t just the fastest growing… it’s growing over twice as fast as the second fastest state and three times as fast as the third. Given that Texas is (to borrow a technical term) f***ing huge, this growth is incredible.

People are flocking to Texas in massive numbers. This is speculative, but it *seems* that people are moving to Texas looking for jobs rather than moving to Texas for a job they already have lined up. This would explain why Texas is adding jobs faster than any other state but still has a relatively high unemployment rate.

“Sure, Texas has lots of jobs, but they’re mostly low-paying/minimum wage jobs”

Let’s look at the data. Here’s a link: Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

Texas median hourly wage is $15.14…  almost exactly in the middle of the pack (28th out of 51 regions). Given that they’ve seen exceptional job growth (and these other states have not) this does not seem exceptionally low.

But the implication here is that the new jobs in Texas, the jobs that Texas seems to stand alone in creating at such a remarkable pace, are low paying jobs and don’t really count.

If this were true, all these new low-paying jobs should be dragging down the wages data, right? But if we look at the wages data since the beginning of the recession (click to enlarge, states are listed alphabetically)

And it turns out that the opposite is true. Since the recession started hourly wages in Texas have increased at a 6th fastest pace in the nation.

As a side note, the only blue state that has faster growing wages is Hawaii. Just thought I’d get that jab in since so many people have been making snarky “Yeah, I could get a job in Texas is I wanted to flip burgers!” comments at me on Twitter.

“Texas is oil country and the recent energy boom is responsible for the incredible jobs increase.”

In identifying “energy jobs” I cast as wide a net as possible. If you want to replicate my findings, go to this link: http://www.bls.gov/sae/data.htm, click on “One-Screen Data Search”, then select “Texas”, then select “Statewide”, then in Supersectors select “Mining and Logging”, “Non-Durable Goods” and “Transportation and Utilities” and then in Industries select “Mining and Logging”, “Natural Gas Distribution”, “Electric Power Generation” and “Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing”.

Tedious, I know, but transparency is important and this is how you get the data.

When we finally get the data, we discover that energy isn’t really the biggest part of the Texas economy. Increases in jobs in the energy sector (or closely related to it) account for about 25% of the job increases in the last year. Since the energy sector only makes up 3% of all employment, there is some truth to this claim.

However, take the energy sector completely out of the equation and Texas is still growing faster than any other state. This indicates to us that the energy sector is not a single sector saving Texas from the same economic fate as the rest of the states. It’s not hurting, but Texas would still be growing like a weed without it.

“Texas has 100,000 unsustainable public sector jobs that inflate the growth numbers.”

I’m not sure where this one comes from, but the numbers are these (and can be found by selecting government employment from the data wizard at this link http://www.bls.gov/sae/data.htm):

Counting from the beginning of the recession (December 2007) the Texas public sector has grown 3.8%, or a little under 70,000 employees. This is faster than normal employment, but it’s not off the charts.

Given that the Texas economy has grown so much and private sector jobs have grown so much, that doesn’t strike me as an unsustainable growth in the public sector.

But, just in case you’re really worried about it, you can lay your fears to rest because in the last year the Texas public sector has shrunk by 26,000 jobs. In the last 12 months, Texas lost 31,300 federal employees, trimmed 3,800 state jobs, and increased local government jobs by 8,400 jobs.

(To be fair, this was partially driven by the role Texas employees played in the census, which inflated federal job numbers this time last year. Since the census numbers stabilized, federal employment has been at about break-even.)

As you can see, we’re nowhere near the “100,000 unsustainable jobs” number.

My Personal Favorite Chart

I’ll leave you with my personal favorite chart. I mentioned at the beginning that Texas is seeing high unemployment in a large part because they’re growing so damn fast. The problem with this from a charts and graphs perspective is that it leaves worse states off the hook, making them look better than they actually are. Looking at unemployment alone, we would conclude that Wisconsin has a better economy than Texas. But Wisconsin is still 120K short of it’s pre-recession numbers. The only reason they look better than Texas is because 32,000 people fled the state.

During that time, 739,000 people fled into Texas. Anyone who takes that data and pretends that this is somehow bad news for Texas is simply not being honest. At the worst, I’d call it a good problem to have.

So, to give something of a better feeling for the economic situation across states, this chart takes the population of the states I selected above and judges the current job situation against the population as it stood at the beginning of the recession.

Using that metric, Texas would have a very low unemployment rate of 2.3%. But the fact that unemployment in the United States is fluid means that the unemployed flock to a place where there are jobs, which inflates its unemployment rate (at least in the short term). It’s not a bad thing for Texas… it just looks bad when dealing with the isolated “unemployment %” statistic.

UPDATE: @francisgagnon on Twitter felt that this chart was dishonest because it charts Texas as having 2.3% unemployment and (in his words so I don’t get him wrong): “It assumes immigrants create no jobs. But more people = more consumers = more jobs.”

He is absolutely right about this. I tried to be clear above that this chart doesn’t account for the fluid nature of an economy with immigration and departures of hundreds of thousands of people, but I don’t want to leave anyone with the wrong impression. So here it is: This chart doesn’t account for the fluid nature of an economy with immigrations and departures of hundreds of thousands of people. The point of this chart is not to say “Texas should have 2.3% unemployment if only things were fair.” Instead, it is an attempt to chart job growth in such a way that controls for people leaving one job market to enter another. To say “Wisconsin has a better job market than Texas because its unemployment rate is 0.6% lower” is a wholly untrue statement even though it cites accurate numbers. What this chart is meant to do is not posit a counter-factual, but to give a visual representation of the employment reality that is obscured by the way we calculate unemployment numbers.

END UPDATE

And… that’s it.

You may have noticed that I don’t mention Rick Perry very much here. That is because Rick Perry is, in my opinion, ancillary to this entire discussion. He was governor while these these numbers happened, so good for him. Maybe that means these jobs they are his “fault”. Maybe the job situation is the result of his policies. Or maybe Texas is simply the least bad option in a search for a favorable economic climate.

That is not an argument I’m having at this exact moment. My point is to show that most of the “excuses” you will hear about Texas’ job statistics are based in nothing more than a hope that Rick Perry had nothing to do with them and not on a sound understanding of the data.

My advice to anti-Perry advocates is this: Give up talking about Texas jobs. Texas is an incredible outlier among the states when it comes to jobs. Not only are they creating them, they’re creating ones with higher wages.

One can argue that Perry had very little to do with the job situation in Texas, but such a person should be probably prepare themselves for the consequences of that line of reasoning. If Rick Perry had nothing to do with creating jobs in Texas, than why does Obama have something to do with creating jobs anywhere? And why would someone advocate any sort of “job creating” policies if policies don’t seem to matter when it comes to the decade long governor of Texas? In short, it seems to me that this line of reasoning, in addition to sounding desperate and partisan, hogties its adherents into a position where they are simultaneously saying that government doesn’t create jobs while arguing for a set of policies where government will create jobs.

Or, to an uncharitable eye, it seem they are saying “Policies create jobs when they are policies I like. They don’t create jobs when they are policies I dislike.”

People will continue to argue about the data. But hopefully this will be helpful in sorting out reality from wishful and desperate thinking. I mentioned on Twitter that the Texas jobs situation was nothing short of miraculous. This is why I said that and why I’m standing by that statement.

643 thoughts on “Rick Perry And Texas Job Numbers

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  4. Kimbo

    These are not UNIQUE jobs to our economy. They are PILLAGED from elsewhere based on the promises of environmental deregulation, lower pay and even more dismal benefits for workers, and yet more corporate tax haven status for corporations doing business in America.

    Economic statistics don’t stand in a vacuum, they effect other areas including the levels of insured citizens, poverty rates, and environmental degradation. As it stands, Texas is the WORST state for providing insurance for it’s citizens, one of the MOST impoverished, and has some of the HIGHEST emissions output in the country. If you have a job but can’t get insurance, can’t pull yourself out of poverty, or have CANCER because your leaders fail to protect the environment, then that’s hardly a decent economy for a FIRST WORLD nation.

    People are moving to TEXAS for high paying jobs because TEXAS’ education system is also one of the worst in the nation so competing for those government contract jobs that GW Bush helped secure in OIL and DEFENSE is easier for an out-of-stater competing with someone educated in the Texas school system. And then there’s the fact that Texas is CHEAP, like THIRD WORLD CHEAP to live in. Hardly something to brag about.

    But thanks for ignoring all the RELEVANT data that so-called economists tend to ignore when discussing how effective the “job creation” of a leader is. If workers have to learn to ACCEPT less benefits, less pay, less environmental protections, and a lower standard of living, then that’s hardly exceptional.

    BTW, I thought Rick Perry HATED cancer, as he said during the debate.

  5. Randy C of Boston

    I’m almost, but not quite, a Tea Party type, and I’m currently agnostic on Perry.

    But as a political junkie/English major I really enjoyed your analysis and candid, forthwrite (sic) style! Your item is a refreshing pleasure to read. Write on!*

    (*Yeah, I’m a child of the Sixties….)

  6. David of Texas

    Great article. You certainly struck a chord with all the nut jobs who have ignored your request to not quote other bloggers and support their claims with real data.
    Thanks again.

  7. AvaGreen

    @Kimbo, percentages and numbers don’t exist in a vacuum.
    …… the insurance thing is related to the huge number of illegals (1.7 million ) in this state and more are coming each year because of the jobs that are available.. They don’t trust government and the moms that I ran into doing my job working for TexasHealthSteps just don’t want to go through the hassle and red tape to join SCHIP for measly amount of money they get from the Fed Gov’t. Same thing for “improverishment”rate.
    Your facts about Texas having the “worst” educational system…..not true. First of all, most illegal immigrants don’t come to Texas bringing a high school diploma with them and they don’t come to the U.S. to finish high school, they come to work. Though they are counted in the census, few will have graduated, resulting in a disproportionate number ofTexas residents without high school diplomas. What would your state do if you had the 2nd largest population of illegals in the U.S.?
    On education:
    Texas is ranked 13th in Education Week’s Quality Counts report. Quality Counts gave Texas an “A” in “Standards, Assessment and Accountability,” and an “A” in “Transitions and Alignment” of the Texas system with college and career readiness.

    In 2009, Texas ranked 7th in a 26 state comparison of the only states reporting four-year on-time graduation rates. That year Texas’ on-time graduation rate was 80.6%. The Texas on-time graduation rate for 2010 is now 84.3%, an amazing 3.7 percentage point increase in a single year on the dropout indicator.

    The Texas class of 2011 posted a record-high math score on the ACT college entrance exam. The Texas average math score was 21.5 and was higher than the national average of 21.1. See the full text for yourself at a Hot Air posting of the Dallas Morning News article.
    For more info, google Seventeen things critics are saying about Rick Perry……..
    or, just continue to post your wrong info. Your choice.

  8. John Star

    Texas spent $320 million to bring in high tech companies and jobs from other states. The promise of regulatory and tax friendly policies by themselves make Texas an easy sell to CEOs who look to line their pockets with even more money.

    This policy works wonders for Texas but would do very little for the country as a whole. How many net jobs has the U.S. gained as a result of Texas’ piracy? My guess is the number is actually negative. Do I have to remind people of Enron to show what self regulation gets you in the end? Even after the avoidable mortgage debacle, conservatives clamor for even fewer regulations. Great policies for stealing jobs but not great for society as a whole.

    Luckily for those of us outside the wonderfully self absorbed United States of Texas, the man will self destruct before its all over. The last thing this country needs is another goofball from Texas in the White House.

  9. avagreen

    Nice red herring there. And, such small thinking. As if what’s been done in the past is the only thing that can be done in the future. What liberal site did you get this off??

    With a President that knows how to (wants to) attract jobs, as proven by past history of, that person will more than likely be able to discern methods for the entire United States…………such as lowering the TAXES on national corporations so that they come back here instead of the lower taxed foreign countries, doing away with the 25,000 pages of regulations that are killing businesses (which cost about $2,000 per person) which includes the EPA. http://www.newsmax.com/ErnestIstook/Obama-Regulations-Killing-Jobs/2011/09/02/id/409593
    and
    http://www.chamberpost.com/2011/09/epa-regulation-kills-500-jobs/
    Federal regulations haven’t helped a bit and harmed greatly.
    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/how_wall_st_fixes_kill_jobs_BLuTjGLbR0sXbbLglRTVON?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=

    All of these are on Perry’s “to do” list.
    http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/rick-perry-slams-job-killing-regulations-for-unemployment-report/
    What Obama hasn’t been able to get through Congress, he’s just going around and creating this mess by executive orders. Hardly constitutional.

  10. DATDAMD

    I seen the data and everything but the thing that got me is when he said the only jobs that were created were minimum wage jobs flippin burgers or low paying jobs. Thats bull because im from Texas and theres more jobs just were i stay who started hiering paying $9.50 to $15.00 for laborers that means no education,convicts, or nuckle heads are getting jobs so go Texas u suck

  11. avagreen

    Nice red herring there. As if what’s been done in the past is the only thing that can be done in the future.

    With a President that knows how to, and wants to, attract jobs, as proven by their past history, that person will more than likely be able to have methods that fit the national scene …………such as to quit punishing our industries by taxing them to death (highest in the world, I believe), lowering those TAXES on these national corporations so that they can afford to come back here instead of the lower taxed foreign countries, doing away with the 25,000 pages of regulations that are killing businesses, which includes the over-reaching EPA.
    Federal regulations haven’t helped a bit and harmed greatly, costing about $2,000 per employee, according to small business owners. Can’t post a link for any of this.

    All of these are on Perry’s “to do” list.

    What Obama hasn’t been able to get through Congress, he’s just going around and creating this mess by executive orders. Hardly constitutional.

  12. GhostOfEnron

    Do your own research. Four hours is nothing to brag about, unless your a 6th grader.

    Look up the percentage of new jobs that were created in the government sector.

    The stats you quote are accurate, but the point is, complaining about “big government” when your state has benefited greatly from said BIG GOVERNMENT, is pure unadultered hypocritical BS.

    Your blog should be re-named “political math without complete statistical analytics”.

    And how’d all that deregulation fare for the Enron boys and girls, hmmm?

    And don’t bullshit us, you know you’ll be voting for Perry since your working “so hard” to sell his argument.

  13. GhostOfEnron

    Avagreen-
    Use the internets before launching guesses online.

    The last time overseas tax havens were given “amnesty” from taxes in effort to bring the monies back into the US, the vast majority wasn’t spent on job creation or even corporate infrastructure, but instead was used to buy-back more stock. You know, the type of earnings that avoid capital gains tax? US corporations are holding trillions in cash, wealthier than they’ve ever been. The ratio of personal income to corporate wealth is higher than it’s been sine before the Great Depression, yet the brain-dead “fiscal conservatives” seem to stupid to utter much less comprehend anything beyond a two-word soundbite which is nothing short of an outright lie.

  14. AvaGreen

    @GhostsofEnron, also can you give an example of how Texas has “benefited greatly from said BIG GOVERNMENT”………since I live here and have for the past……..30+ years this last time. ??

  15. AvaGreen

    @GhostsofEnron, ………if you are going to be touting Kenysian Economics philosophy which this present administration has been using to bankrupt us for the past 3 years, don’t bother. This site isn’t set up for such a lengthy discussion. And, you’re talking to a Supply-Side Economics person. it would be like grinding the flint to the stone for us to get into this.

  16. TexanHoosier

    Thank you so much for doing this research. I knew that the data was being misrepresented, but didn’t know how to do the research you did. Really appreciate it!

  17. Ryan Larsen

    Interesting article. I have a few comments, this being the first of 3 or 4.

    I’d like to begin by responding to this sentiment:

    “One can argue that Perry had very little to do with the job situation in Texas, but such a person should be probably prepare themselves for the consequences of that line of reasoning. If Rick Perry had nothing to do with creating jobs in Texas, than why does Obama have something to do with creating jobs anywhere?”

    Obama has changed and continues trying to changing laws in a fashion which impacts employers and businesses negatively, both in terms of their ability to function and their willingness to function. In contrast, Perry has inherited (rather than “created”) a climate of laws favorable to business. Perry inherited a legacy of job growth, and has let it ride uninterrupted. For that he gets some credit, but it hardly makes him a masterminding risk-taker (although I do give him credit for tort reform).

    “And why would someone advocate any sort of “job creating” policies if policies don’t seem to matter when it comes to the decade long governor of Texas? In short, it seems to me that this line of reasoning, in addition to sounding desperate and partisan, hogties its adherents into a position where they are simultaneously saying that government doesn’t create jobs while arguing for a set of policies where government will create jobs.”

    In light of my above comment, I believe the answer to this apparent conundrum should be apparent.

  18. Ryan Larsen

    Part II:

    Rick Perry’s job attack is misleading: he says Romney ranked 47th in job growth (a talking point now echoed by pundits), but at the end of Romney’s term in office the unemploment rate in MA was 4.7%. Between 4% and 6% is considered healthy. Under 4 is considered unhealthy. The only way MA could have “created more jobs” is by increasing the population. But the MA population has remained essentially unchanged for 20 years, because it’s saturated. MA is the third most densely populated state in the U.S. Therefore, Perry is attacking Romney for not meeting a useless quota. Quotas are a misleading liberal tactic. Perry is dishonestly using the MA job growth rate to claim Romney is bad on jobs.

    Perry compares Romney with Dukakis, who was governor during the booming Reagan 80s and a period where women entered the workforce in droves. MA also had a “minicomputer” tech bubble. Meanwhile, Romney inherited a massive budget crisis (which he solved), that hurt job growth. Yet some Perry supporters are now saying Romney’s response was unfair because he compared Perry with Bush and Richards. Apparently, consistency is not their strong point.

  19. Ryan Larsen

    Part III (the long explanation):

    Quotas are not conservative. They are an inept or intellectually lazy means of assessment. If people are not committing crimes, we shouldn’t arrest folks just to meet a quota. And when everyone has a job, we don’t need to prioritize job creation or criticize the leader for “failing to create jobs.”

    At the end of Mitt Romney’s term as Governor, MA had a healthy unemployment rate of 4.7 (below 4 becomes unhealthy). There was no job problem, and no need for an artificial “fix.” When Romney took office, the state faced a massive budget problem, which Romney successfully solved.

    So why does Rick Perry point out that Romney didn’t create many jobs? Because many people are confused. We are now in a jobs crisis, nationally, and people are thinking in terms of the need to create jobs.

    The only way MA could have created more jobs under Romney is if the population in MA had increased. But MA is the third most densely populated state, right behind RI and NJ. Texas has 26 times the area of MA. That means, unlike MA, Texas has room for sprawl (which it has seen in excess) – meaning cheap land for people as well as businesses building stores and factories, equaling jobs.

    Logistically, TX is a frontier. And because of its central placement, temperate climate and sophisticated urban variety, it is a hub. Combine this with its conservative laws (pre-dating Rick Perry) and built-in natural resources, and Texas is an obvious place for people to move.

    Still, as Mitt Romney pointed out, a much higher percentage of jobs were created in TX under both Richards and Bush than under Perry. This may indicate that suburban TX is finally beginning to see some saturation after the massive population increase of the last 20 years.

    The bottom line is that Texas has had room for bringing in new people. MA population has seen little change in 20 years, while TX has had a 40% increase in population over that same period. While Perry would like to take credit for job growth, especially since the recession, recent growth has been demonstrably chaotic rather than ordered. Just as Babe Ruth hit more home runs than anyone else but also struck out more than anyone else, when people have taken their savings and moved to Texas in the last 3 years, they have naturally generated some jobs but also been left with a lot of unemployment.

    To illustrate the chaos which Perry takes credit for, consider that a year ago MA and TX had the same unemployment rate, 8.2% (Sept. ’10). Now, MA is down to 7.6 and TX is up to 8.4. Is this the result of Perry’s careful planning and micromanagement? If so, he has failed. If not, he should stop pretending to assume credit for the jobs situation in Texas.

  20. AvaGreen

    @RyanLarsen, glad that you agree that jobs have grown in Texas; however, saying that Perry has had little to do with that fact is a bit of stretch as he’s been in office now for 10 years. Look how quickly Obama has put us into debt, lowered our credit rating, and more or less ruined our economy by increasing anti-business regs and laws………..in just under 3 years. Yes, Perry has had something to do with our continued prosperity.
    One example: Perry has managed to keep taxes low during his 10-year tenure as governor. Countless opportunities to raise taxes presented themselves during Perry’s ten years as governor, yet he resisted the temptation. Texas was ranked 49th among the states in per-capita taxes, at $1,434 a year in 2005, according to a 2009 Census Bureau report and a Texas Public Policy Foundation analysis (Feb., 2011) shows Texas with a 7.9% combined state/local tax burden, ranking it 45th among the states – for comparison, New York’s burden is 12.1%.

    After 10 years in office, with ample opportunities to raise taxes, Perry has maintained an enviable record as a low-tax governor.
    In his first veto of the year, governor Perry vetoed the Internet sales tax bill (HB 2403). That’s just one more reason for Texas’ low cost of living. At least for now, Texans can continue to buy goods over the Internet without paying sales tax on all purchases.

    Texas is ranked third among “Best States to make a living.” The ranking is based on an Adjusted Average Income value which considers taxes, housing, and cost of living. Texas’ average is $41,427. Compared to Massachusetts: $38,665, Minnesota: $37,721, and California: $29,772 just to compare a few. This from CBS MoneyWatch, April, 2011.

    *****Now, MA is down to 7.6 and TX is up to 8.4. Is this the result of Perry’s careful planning and micromanagement? If so, he has failed. If not, he should stop pretending to assume credit for the jobs situation in Texas.*****
    Perhaps the high unemployment has to do with the 1.6 million illegals in Texas, here because of the good job capabilities. I’ve asked this before and will repeat: “What would your state (or any state) do with the same 1.6 million illegals to use your healthcare system, schools, legal resources (police and courts)?

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  22. david

    You cherry picked the states for your charts. Texas is doing OK, but so are a bunch of other petro-states. A miracle? I don’t think so.

  23. AvaGreen

    @David, from the 3rd article above about Texas being an energy state:
    “In identifying “energy jobs” I cast as wide a net as possible. If you want to replicate my findings, go to this link: http://www.bls.gov/sae/data.htm, click on “One-Screen Data Search”, then select “Texas”, then select “Statewide”, then in Supersectors select “Mining and Logging”, “Non-Durable Goods” and “Transportation and Utilities” and then in Industries select “Mining and Logging”, “Natural Gas Distribution”, “Electric Power Generation” and “Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing”……When we finally get the data, we discover that energy isn’t really the biggest part of the Texas economy. Increases in jobs in the energy sector (or closely related to it) account for about 25% of the job increases in the last year. Since the energy sector only makes up 3% of all employment……However, take the energy sector completely out of the equation and Texas is still growing faster than any other state. This indicates to us that the energy sector is not a single sector saving Texas from the same economic fate as the rest of the states. It’s not hurting, but Texas would still be growing like a weed without it.”

  24. Nancy Oliver

    Love the DAMN WELL RESEARCHED ARTICLE! I have one thing to add, that I being a Texan can find easily…just go asks California is Gov. Perry has a big hand in creating the business friendly atmosphere. I will provide an honestly accurate vid…but I also want to add that there are many state congressional addresses that are also on youtube. Gov. Perry has pushed strong to get the legislature to pass his simple four part plan…Cut regulations, give business a given long term climate, keep taxes low, and end frivolous lawsuits. To add is also a strong economy and to gain that…don’t spend all the money and leave the worker with as much of their income as one can. You might also look at three counties who opted for a better retirement than SS…true, Gov. Perry did not create the program but he did expand on it. Also, besides insisting Texas will NOT raise taxes…Gov. Perry also refuses to let Congress take from our billions rainy day fund. WE balanced the budget this year with stimulus yes…but Gov. Perry RELUCTANTLY DID SO AND WROTE A LETTER TO OBAMA TELLING HIM WHY WE CHOSE TO TAKE ONLY THAT WHICH STRINGS WERE NOT ATTACHED KEEPING TEXAS TIED UP IN THE DC MUCK AND MIRE. The reason we did so was because DC has not paid their bills to Texas since oby took office when it comes to the reimbursment of doing DC’s job with the illegal deportation and incarceration. Here is one vid. The rest are easy to find…with your nose for finding credible stuff…sure ya can handle the rest. (BTW…in this vid…I think Governor was worried he was going to get hammered for so many trips he made knocking on doors) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aot5si1w-bI .

  25. Ashley

    Thank you for putting this data together!!! Very interesting read. I do have some questions though and they aren’t based on statistical data, rather, on my personal experience.

    If Texas has well paying jobs (and I’m talking that pay well enough to get by…not live extravagantly), THEN WHERE ARE THEY? I was laid off from my job at the end of July. I thought I would find a job making the same (just under $35K per year) if not more within a month. What I have found is very disheartening. In my hours each day of looking for a job I have found several jobs…but they pay $10-12 per hr. That’s $5-7 per hour less than I was making, or an average of about $1000 per month LESS. Unemployment has me at about $500 short per month on the budget…so about $700 less than I was making while working. Why is it that a person with 2 undergraduate degrees and half-way done with her MBA can’t find a job in the private sector in Austin making what is really entry level pay? It’s extremely frustrating. So, now I’m wondering, would it just be better to stick with my seasonal job with the Federal Govt…based on my math it would. What most concerns me is that our public school system is in the tank, but people like can’t afford to send their child to private school to ensure they are well educated. I did okay in the public school system, but the education I received as a whole was really a joke…I was just lucky enough to have a few teachers who really gave a damn about teaching. I got to college and was rudely awakened that my 3.98 GPA didn’t make me “smart,” rather it only shows that I was rarely challenged.

    And in all the talk swirling around right now I keep asking about our Congress. Let’s say Congress stays about the same…it doesn’t matter who is elected President…they will still be bickering and arguing their points until the oxygen is removed from the room. I don’t blame Obama for our credit rating falling…I blame Congress not doing their job and doing it on time. THEY showed creditors that they are going to wait until the very last minute to get the work they have been elected to do, done. CONGRESS put us in a position of facing the entire government shutting down! NOT Obama. And I’m sorry, no matter who is President, if Congress isn’t changed and sent a message from the people stating, “Stop your childish bickering and do the Fing job you make 6 figures to do,” this country will remain stagnant.

  26. avafromtexas

    @Ashley, try MHMR. They hire bachelor’s level workers for case managers and such. Also, GET OUT OF THE CITY! and try the rural areas where people such as yourself are in shorter supply. Much, much better pay. That’s where I’ve worked for over 20 years and have had no problem at all finding a job.
    Also, try West Texas where the jobs are plentiful and housing is more affordable than Austin.
    Maybe you’ve just set your net too narrow.

  27. avafromtexas

    Also, MBA’s are in overabundance…….don’t care what the schools tell you. They are just wanting you to finish your degree in THEIR school. Same thing with lawyers. Too many for the population, but they continue to push for more applicants.
    I also have my masters degree (social work), and as I said, no problem with finding a job. They come looking for me, in fact. I get mailouts every few months.

    Truly, try the small communities. We’re just as nice as the people in Austin. 🙂

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  29. Shirley

    With the Republicans establishment still in the House President Obama, or whom ever become President will continue experiencing problem with Congress
    it was that way when Nancy Pelosi become Speaker of House.
    Wall Street did a number on our Country, and when the Stock Market is vositle those they have a fit over there screaming at President Obama to do something, but today the Presidet were in Ohio so they could blame him.
    Today it was the Congress fault they were unble to pas the Relief Bill, and i guess Wall Streen didn’ like that

  30. william

    The writer of all that BS must be kin to Ross Perot. Looks like he borrowed Perot’s graphs. Don’t mean a thing!

  31. Pingback: Lies, Damned Lies… « Felicia Cravens « The Texas Conservative

  32. Moss

    So what about all the false jobs that were reported to TWC from schools like ATI Career Training Center? TWC refuses to release the information on how many students were put to work by these schools…. only that they “meet regulations”….. yea im sure they do cause its all fake.

  33. mamabaer

    waste of time. this is pure propaganda. you can flip the numbers as you like to sell your lies. reading and writing this article is a waste of time.

  34. Hoochie

    Thanks for this. I prefer facts to blind accusations, so I will take a look at some of your sources and I will not use “jobs” as part of my anti-Perry comments. I had not used that anyway, as there is so much else available to me. Thanks again – very well organized and explained, and very interesting!

  35. onefreeman

    Great article! I went through nearly identical thought process, used the same data (federal government data) and came to same conclusion just didn’t publish it. Great work!
    For all the naysayers squawking about proof and playing with the numbers, be careful who you are calling a propagandist and false reporter. Take a close look at the links and you will see they are “.gov”. This means the data is collected managed and controlled by federal government bureaucracies run by Mr Obama, so it seems even he can’t argue with Texas jobs growth!!!

  36. Trey

    First, Texas does have a fairly *weak* Governor’s Office (http://www.unc.edu/~beyle/gubnewpwr.html)
    Nevertheless, in order for the Governor to *claim* he deserves kudos for Texas’ jobs growth, he has to show that the jobs there are growing faster than the population growth or that he’s *making* the population (that brings the jobs) immigrate to TX!?! Texas grew in the decade by a huge percentage (2012 Statistical Abstract Table 14 ‘www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/’ -> not as much as Huntsman’s Utah, btw), more, in fact than the growth in jobs that Perry’s falsely claiming to have caused.

  37. XYZ

    In this economy a lot of states have horrific unemployment – I think my state is at 9.8, and we used to be the top state in the country. I think with the political climate in Texas, as opposed to the climate in NY or CA, they could have made Texas a jobs laboratory – now I have never been to the State, so I cannot comment how much they have contributed to its rise. The stats I do not like are it education levels and it uninsured.

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  39. vointoutt

    Hey dudes any of you used the vapor genie pipe? I’m looking for some old school smoking pipe that acts like a vaporizer and I have to choose between vapor genie and yiendo pipe. I would go with yiendo it looks dope but never used a vaporizer pipe before and I don’t know how efficient it is. Any of you used something like that? Thanks

  40. Tom

    The Bureau of Labor Statisitcs has a great wealth of data. I am glad that someone took this data and turned it into useful information. You may agree or disagree with this data (I tend to agree with the conclusions made here). I really enjoy seeing someone taking the time to review the situation and come up with some truly independent conclusions. It is a shame that the Boston Globe, NY Times, etc.. could not be expected to do the same.

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