On Jobs: FactCheck: Texas has highest number of minimum wage workers
When Rick Perry thumped his chest over his job-creation record as governor, he left the bad parts out. Yes, employment has grown by more than 1 million since Perry took office in Texas. But a lot of those jobs are not well paid.
Perry said, “95% of all the jobs that we’ve created have been above minimum wage.” To support the claim, the Perry campaign provided federal statistics for Dec. 2010 showing only 5.3% of all jobs in Texas pay the minimum wage. But those figures represent all workers, not just the new jobs, for which data are unavailable. And that does not account for low-wage jobs that may be barely above the minimum wage. 51% of all Texas workers make less than $33,000 a year. Only 30% make more than $50,000 a year. Nationally, Texas ranked 34th in median household income from 2007 to 2009. About 9.5% of Texas hourly workers, excluding those who are paid salaries, earn the minimum wage or less, tying Mississippi for the highest percentage in the nation.
Source: AP FactCheck on 2011 GOP debate in Simi Valley CA Sep 7, 2011
On Jobs: FactCheck: Jobs grew faster in TX under Perry’s predecessors
[We fact-checked this exchange from the debate]:
PERRY: Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt.
ROMNEY: Well, as a matter of fact, George Bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, governor.
PERRY: That’s not correct.
ROMNEY: Yes, that is correct.
THE FACTS: Romney was correct. Romney accurately stated that George W. Bush—even without his predecessor—saw jobs grow at a faster rate during his 1994-2000 years as governor than Perry has during his 11 years governing Texas. Employment grew by about 1.32 million during Bush’s six years in office. Employment during Perry’s years has grown about 1.2 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: AP FactCheck on 2011 GOP debate in Simi Valley CA Sep 7, 2011
On Jobs: FactCheck: Texas job growth is strong, but pre-dated Perry
Perry says Texas accounted for 48% of jobs created after recession’s end, in an interview with Glenn Beck.
We recognize that job-gain boasts can overreach. An example: Perry’s 2009 claim that about 70% of the jobs created in the US from November 2007-0 were in Texas. That was based on statistics from the 14 states in which job gains outnumbered job losses, and disregarded any jobs created in the other 36 states.
Perry got his new figures from the Dallas Federal Reserve, who subtracted the number of Texas jobs in June 2009 (10,287,000) from the jobs as of April 2011 (10,524,000) and determining the 237,000 increase accounted for 48% of the 496,000 jobs gained nationally over that period.
However, the Texas economy has been roaring since 1990, long before Perry became governor, including phenomenal job growth.
The strength of the Texas economy, compared to many other states, isn’t in dispute. However, there are many ways to slice and dice employment statistics. Mark Perry’s statement Half True.
Source: FactCheck on 2011 Presidential primary by PolitiFact.com Jun 14, 2011
http://www.nationalreview.com/exchequer/274695/paul-krugman-still-wrong-about-texas
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/279607/cis-and-texas-immigrant-job-myth-chuck-devore
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[snip]……Texas had a conservative government before Perry, and it will have one after he leaves. The question is, how much credit—and blame—does the governor deserve for Texas’ record during his 10 years in office? The Lone Star State has traditionally had a weak chief executive, although most analysts say that Perry’s long tenure and unbeaten string of political successes (his triumph over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in last year’s GOP gubernatorial primary being the most recent) have made him a force in state politics. His influence was never bigger, perhaps, than in the last round of budget negotiations, when the state, which approves budgets biannually, faced the aforementioned $27 billion deficit.
Buoyed by a wave of new, tea party-inspired legislators, Perry not only didn’t raise taxes but left billions of dollars in the state’s rainy-day fund, too. He also helped cut more than 5,000 state-government jobs. All in all, he was able to gouge government spending the way many Republicans in Washington can only dream of. Perry’s bulldog approach has been the highlight of his tenure, said Heflin: “That’s been his trademark—to provide leadership to say, ‘Certain bills that reach my desk are going to be vetoed if they get beyond our ability to pay.’ ” Others have more doubts about Perry’s impact, even if they don’t doubt that he’ll be able to take credit for Texas’s success. Miller compared him to the manager of a talented baseball team. “Texas has done well under him, and he can claim some sign gains vis-à-vis the rest of nation,” the GOP lobbyist said. “But he’s still managing the New York Yankees. He took over an economic engine that’s historically quite strong.”
Even if the real story is more complicated, Perry argues that his record validates the GOP argument that less government spending spurs job creation—a belief that has dominated conservative economic thinking since the recession. That’s a potent message in a Republican primary where voters are hungry for a business-savvy candidate who can revitalize the economy. His state’s bottom-line job numbers may also encourage moderate Republicans, while his limited-government philosophy will appeal to tea partiers and other activists on the GOP’s right flank.
Perry might also present the clearest contrast with President Obama. Unlike Romney, Perry didn’t pass a health care bill that included an individual mandate and that was designed in part (along with cost reduction) to reduce the ranks of uninsured residents. Unlike two other credible challengers for the GOP nomination, former Govs. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jon Huntsman of Utah, Perry didn’t support legislation to curb climate change. (Pawlenty has openly called his past support of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions a “clunker.”) Conservatives who demand purity in their GOP candidates might have their man in Perry. And unlike other conservative favorites, such as Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., or Alaska ex-Gov. Sarah Palin, Perry can point to actual results.
The real danger for Romney isn’t just Perry’s economic record—it’s that he can pair it with a pitch to social conservatives. The Texas governor, an evangelical, has already spoken openly about the importance of religion in his life and in government, calling for governors from the other 49 states to join him in Houston to pray for the country. It’s a message that might turn off some moderates, but Perry’s economic chops could put the minds of some others at ease.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-truth-on-rick-perry-s-texas-record-20110804
This is the crux of the whole issue. TX added jobs at a time the rest of the country was losing them.