<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1 http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19120"></HEAD>
<BODY style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 15px"
id=MailContainerBody leftMargin=0 topMargin=0 CanvasTabStop="true"
name="Compose message area">
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<H1>Rick Perry's Texas jobs boom: The whole story</H1><SPAN class=byline>By <A
href="mailto:tami.luhby@turner.com">Tami Luhby</A></SPAN> <SPAN
class=twitterName>@<A href="http://twitter.com/CNNmoney"
target=_blank>CNNMoney</A></SPAN> <SPAN class=cnnDateStamp>August 13, 2011: 2:34
PM ET</SPAN>
<DIV class=clearFloat></DIV>
<DIV id=storytext>
<DIV id=ie_dottop><IMG border=0
alt="Rick Perry and his Texas jobs boom: The whole story"
src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/2011/08/12/news/economy/perry_texas_jobs/chart-texas-jobs2.top.gif"
width=475 height=268></DIV>
<DIV id=fb-recommend></DIV>
<P>NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Texas has created a lot of jobs over the 10 years that
Rick Perry's been governor -- there's no doubt about it.</P>
<P>Perry, who is formally launching his presidential candidacy on Saturday, is
making his state's economic prowess a centerpiece of his campaign. Already he's
been bragging about his state being the "epicenter of job growth." </P>
<DIV id=ie_column>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: block" id=sharewidgets1 class=sharewidgets></DIV></DIV>
<P>Texas has gained more than 1 million net new jobs in the decade Perry has led
the state. And it's been going strong since the recession ended.</P>
<P>"We are home to fewer than one in 10 Americans ... but four in 10 new
American jobs are in our state," he told a conference of state legislators from
around the nation this week.</P>
<P>But that doesn't mean that all is well with employment in the Lone Star
State. Texas leads the nation in minimum-wage jobs, and many positions don't
offer health benefits. Also, steep budget cuts are expected to result in the
loss of more than 100,000 jobs.</P>
<P>Perhaps most importantly, <A
title="http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/11/news/economy/jobs_population_growth/index.htm CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/11/news/economy/jobs_population_growth/index.htm">Texas
can't create jobs fast enough</A> to keep up with its rapidly growing
population. Since 2007, the state's number of working-age residents expanded by
6.6%, nearly twice the national average.</P>
<P>Factoring in that population growth means Texas would need to create another
629,000 jobs, or 5.6% more positions, just to reach its pre-recession employment
level, according to the Economic Policy Institute.</P>
<P>"They have a long way to go before they get back to a positive place," said
Doug Hall, director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network, an institute
project.</P>
<P>Still, Texas has been adding jobs at a rapid clip since the recession's end
in 2009. The state has created nearly 297,000 net new positions since June of
that year, representing a major chunk of the nation's 715,000 gain, according to
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.</P>
<P>Of course, Texas enjoys advantages that have nothing to do with having Perry
at the helm. Rich in natural resources, the state has been benefiting from the
high price of oil and the expanded interest in natural gas exploration. Energy
employment has soared by 16.8% over the past year alone.</P>
<P>While the energy sector is driving much of the recent jobs expansion, nearly
all industries are doing well, said Jim Gaines, research economist at The Real
Estate Center at Texas A&M University. </P>
<P>Construction jobs, for instance, have grown by 5.4% in the past year,
according to the center. Employment in professional services is up 4.5% and in
the hospitality business by 3%. Only the government and information technology
sectors have seen drops, of 1.4% and 5%, respectively.</P>
<P>"Texas has fared better than most of the nation," said Terry Clower, who
directs the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of
North Texas. "Private sector job creation has been pretty strong compared to
most other states."</P>
<P>The secret, according to Perry, is low taxes, predictable regulation, a fair
legal system, and a skilled workforce. And he's been sharing it with companies
around the country, <A
href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/28/news/economy/California_companies/index.htm">hoping
to lure them to his state</A>. Some are heeding his siren call, lured by the
state's low cost of doing business, as well as Texas Enterprise Fund, which has
awarded companies $440 million to relocate since it was created in 2003.</P>
<P>Texas, however, still faces many challenges on the jobs front. Many of the
positions that have been created are on the lower end of the pay scale. Some
550,000 workers last year were paid at or below the federal minimum wage of
$7.25, more than double the number making those wages in 2008, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics. </P>
<P>That's 9.5% of Texas' hourly workforce, which gives it the highest percentage
of minimum-wage hourly workers in the nation -- a dubious title it shares with
Mississippi.</P>
<P>"We have created jobs, but they are not jobs with good wages and benefits,"
said F. Scott McCown, executive director, Center for Public Policy Priorities,
which advocates for low-income residents.</P>
<P>Going forward, the Lone Star State will have to work even harder to create
jobs. That's because Perry signed a budget in May that slashes $15 billion in
government spending over the next two years. Also, the federal stimulus funds
that poured into the state since 2009 have largely dried up.</P>
<P>The state budget cuts alone could result in the loss of more than 100,000
jobs, many of them in the public sector, Clower said. <A
href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/04/news/economy/teacher_government_jobs/index.htm">Thousands
of teachers</A> are already feeling the impact of more than $5 billion in cuts
to education funding.</P>
<P>The state's rapidly expanding population has been both a blessing and a
curse. While it has spurred the creation of jobs to service the new residents,
it has also kept the state's unemployment rate higher than one would expect for
a place that's adding so many positions. Texas' unemployment rate is 8.2% --
lower than the nation's, but higher than 25 other states.</P>
<P>Unless Perry can push job creation into overdrive, the rate is likely to stay
high, economists say.</P>
<P>"Our labor force is growing substantially faster than we can grow jobs,"
Gaines said.</P></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>_________________________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Wayne A. Fox<BR><A
title="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com">wayne.a.fox@gmail.com</A><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>