Texas unemployment rate increases again

[sonias]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2011/09/16/texas_unemployment_rate_increa.html">AAS 9/16/11

Texas unemployment rate increases again

The Texas unemployment rate reached 8.5 percent in August, its highest rate since June of 1987.

That’s an increase from 8.4 percent in July.

Those numbers come from the U.S. Department of Labor. The numbers were confirmed by the Texas Workforce Commission, which says the state lost 1,300 jobs in August. Texas gained 8,100 private-sector jobs, but those jobs were wiped out by job losses in the public sector.

For the year, Texas has added 272,000 jobs in the private sector but lost 19,000 government jobs. In August alone, the state lost 11,500 jobs in local government, for a net loss of 9,400 government jobs.

So much for Perry's job creation miracle. Smoke and mirrors ... just like it always was.

:kick:

[Melissa G]

1. Perry is smoke and mirrors and what's behind that

is really pathetic and sad.

[sonias]

2. Lets see if this even gets national coverage.

The media is right on board promoting his "miracle" like it's real.

:shrug:

[sonias]

3. Texas Reports Increased Jobless Rate

Texas Tribune 9/16/11

Texas Reports Increased Jobless Rate

The shining Texas jobs miracle that Gov. Rick Perry is touting on the presidential campaign trail may be dimming, according to statistics released today by the Texas Workforce Commission. Texas lost 1,300 jobs in August, marking the first month of employment decline in Texas in almost a year.

The unemployment rate also increased slightly to 8.5 percent in August, marking a new record for the highest unemployment rate in Texas in more than two decades. Texas' unemployment rate is still significantly lower than the national unemployment rate, now at 9.1 percent.

Perry has centered his presidential campaign on the consistency of Texas' job creation, but this month, the effects of sweeping budget cuts he approved in June seem to be showing up in the jobs numbers. All government sectors reported net job losses of 9,400 in August. Local governments were hit particularly hard, reporting 11,500 jobs lost.

I think Perry's horrible management and hot air bravado will catch up to him.

:kick:

[sonias]

4. How Perry's "Four Principles" Compare to His Record

Texas Tribune 9/16/11
How Perry's "Four Principles" Compare to His Record

(snip)
"Principle No. 1 is, don't spend all the money."

Perry has talked up his influence in pushing the Texas Legislature to balance the state budget and leave about $6 billion in the state’s Rainy Day Fund. But lawmakers are bound by the Texas Constitution to pass a balanced budget, and across-the-board cuts this year slashed funding for everything from public education to women’s health programs to mental health services.

As for the money left in the Rainy Day Fund, even Republican budget-writers have admitted that much of the fund will be spent on the current budget when lawmakers return to Austin in 2013.

-----------
(snip)
“And so that’s really the reality," said Don Baylor of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. "There are a lot more fast food outlets in Texas than there were five years ago, and so those jobs typically start at the bottom of the wage scale.”

Baylor said population growth accounts for most of the service-sector job creation and for an increase the number of teachers, police officers and doctors in the state.

For now these principles are grabbing headlines and revving up crowds. But eventually, Perry’s opponents may start demanding specifics, and he’ll have to explain how he plans to turn the Texas job boom into one for America.

Once again the emperor has no clothes.