The Miracle Of Jobs Growth In Texas

Just read an excellent piece over at Political Math about the "miraculous" jobs growth in Texas over the last decade from a non-Rick Perry supporter. Yep, someone that doesn't like Rick Perry for our next president and was prepared to dig into the raw data and prove why Texas's job growth numbers were not spectacular, then proved the exact opposite.



He doesn't credit Rick Perry with the tremendous growth that has occurred in the decade Perry has governed the state of Texas, but he does counter the liberal arguments that are being spouted across the media and liberal blogosphere.



Teaser:

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:

Go read the rest, see the charts and the raw data provided.



H/T Just Karl.



Follow that up with Kevin D. Williamson's facts and figures on the same topic over at NRO.



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VIDEO added: Will Texas Governor Rick Perry Jump Into 2012 And Shake Up The GOP Field

Video added below the post of Perry's press conference.

"Texas added more jobs in the past 10 years than the total jobs of the 19 states, including the District of Columbia, that were positive for job growth."--- The Business Journals

There has been buzz, rumors and speculation as to whether Texas Governor Rick Perry would toss his hat into the ring as a presidential candidate for 2012, despite his prior rejection of the idea.

Reports today show that the thought is there and the possibility is not as unlikely as many once thought it was.

Via Statesman:

Gov. Rick Perry today gave his strongest indication yet that he may run for president.

“I’m going to think about it” after the legislative session ends Monday, Perry said. He added, “But I think about a lot of things.”

More:

Perry was asked about the presidency during a press conference to hail a voter-identification law that he has signed into law.

The presidential talk began when a reporter asked Perry for his reaction to the fact that the Hispanic Republican Conference of Texas, a group of state legislators, endorsed him for president on Thursday.

“I don’t make a lot of anything dealing with that until we get past the Monday deadline for this legislative session,” Perry said. “That’s our focus. I appreciate everybody’s interest. All of us know that the work at hand is the most important thing we have to do in getting this balanced budget finalized and passing pieces of legislation like this.”

Unemployment is a huge issue and promises to be one the top issues going into the 2012 campaign season, with unemployment at 9 percent now and estimates from experts believing unemployment will not be under 8 percent by Nov. 2012. Job growth has also been the focus of the latest plan put together by the GOP, unveiled yesterday with "America's Job Creators".

Recent reports with data obtained by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Texas over the last decade has seen private-sector job growth of 732,800, the highest of all 50 states and DC.

No other state even topped 100,000.

Perry is into his third term as Governor, making him the longest serving governor in Texas history and would benefit greatly from Texas' job growth over the last 10 years as well as his reputation as a social and fiscal conservative.

Others have noted that recently Perry has been weighing in on national issues as well which could been indicative of a 2012 presidential run.

More on Perry's stances and votes on individual issues can be found here.

This is definitely a story to watch if for no other reason than if Perry enters the race, the campaign season would get much more interesting.



More at Ballot Box.


Job Growth Related:

Red States Add More Jobs Than Blue States: Part 1 and Part 2

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Red States Add More Jobs Than Blue States: Texas Adds Highest Number Of Jobs Over Decade, California Suffers Biggest Decline of Jobs

Part two- By The Numbers found here.

The Business Journals' On Numbers provides a chart showing private-sector employment trends between 2001 and 2011, as well as the one-year changes from 2010 to 2011, state by state.

From April 2001 to April 2011 Texas has increased it's private-sector jobs by 732,800 and in the last year alone, from 2010 to 2011, the increase is listed at 251,700 private-sector jobs increased.

California, while enjoying a one year gain from 2010 to 2011, has suffered the biggest decline over the decade, losing 623,700 private-sector jobs.

The runners-up to Texas in private-sector growth were Arizona and Utah, which added 90,200 and 90,000 jobs respectively, during the decade from 2001 to 2011.

The data was obtained by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the chart used by The Business Journal.

The latest data shown by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also shows that Texas holds 8.0% unemployment, which is 1% lower than the national average and California holds 11.9% unemployment which is 2.9% above the national average.

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey makes this argument:

What do Texas, Utah, and Arizona all have in common? They are all right-to-work states. Among the top five states, only Washington does not have right-to-work laws allowing employees free choice whether to join unions. Seven of the top ten job-growth states are right-to-work. The only right-to-work state in the bottom 10 is Georgia. Earlier this month, Jim DeMint issued a report showing the correlation between right-to-work legal environments and growth:

Could be. I am sure some would argue against it but the data doesn't lie, it is just interpreted differently by those with different political agendas.

What cannot be argued is Texas is a long time Conservative state and California is well known to be a Liberal one. Politicians elected in each state are directly responsible for state politics, budgets, spending programs, spending cuts and job creation ideas.

In fact the top ten states in the On numbers list, in order, are:

Texas- RED
Arizona- RED
Utah- RED
Washington- BLUE
Virginia- RED
North Dakota-RED
District of Columbia -BLUE
Nevada- PURPLE
Montana- RED
Alaska- RED

(Technically, Washington D.C is a special district, not a state- added here only because On Numbers included it)

Conservative State-Red
Liberal State-Blue
Swing State-Purple

Apply state-by-state politics to the national argument that has been raging over the the federal deficit, government spending, spending cuts and job creation, where both sides of the political spectrum have their own opinion, for lack of a better word, on what needs to be done to address each issue, especially job creation.

It comes down to what set of ideas work and while everyone has their own opinion, if we go by the actual numbers, only one set of ideas seems to consistently provide the desired results in regards to private sector job creation.

"Texas added more jobs in the past 10 years than the total jobs of the 19 states, including the District of Columbia, that were positive for job growth."--- The Business Journals

It is up to voters to decide in 2012, more jobs or more "stimulating" experiments.

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