More than 37% of all net jobs in the US have been created in Texas since the “recovery” began. The numbers would probably be even more gaudy, but for the Obama administration’s repeated attacks on Texas businesses.
Richard Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, dropped by our offices this week and relayed a remarkable fact: Some 37% of all net new American jobs since the recovery began were created in Texas. Mr. Fisher’s study is a lesson in what works in economic policy—and it is worth pondering in the current 1.8% growth moment.
Using Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, Dallas Fed economists looked at state-by-state employment changes since June 2009, when the recession ended. Texas added 265,300 net jobs, out of the 722,200 nationwide, and by far outpaced every other state. New York was second with 98,200, Pennsylvania added 93,000, and it falls off from there. Nine states created fewer than 10,000 jobs, while Maine, Hawaii, Delaware and Wyoming created fewer than 1,000. Eighteen states have lost jobs since the recovery began.
The data are even more notable because they’re calculated on a “sum of states” basis, which the BLS does not use because they can have sampling errors. Using straight nonfarm payroll employment, Texas accounts for 45% of net U.S. job creation. Modesty is not typically considered a Texas virtue, but the results speak for themselves.
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As for the attacks on Texas business mentioned above, they are: ObamaCare, which threatens jobs everywhere and that’s among the reasons Texas is part of the lawsuit to overturn it; the offshore oil drilling permitorium (Texas is the nation’s leading energy exporter) and the EPA’s assault on Texas’ clean air program, which threatens to jack up costs on plants and factories to no good end since the Texas clean air program has compiled a better record of cleaning the air than the EPA’s own program.
Texas is also a right to work state, so the NLRB’s action against Boeing also presents a direct threat to Texas’ economy.
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