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Texas employment tops 14M as state job growth tops U.S.
- roenxi 3y agoI'm waiting patiently until the academic studies on COVID response vs. what happens next. Assuming the actual rules got wound back fairly quickly, we've got a really interesting natural experiment on the go into what real medium-term business confidence looks like when governments roll in and shut things down unexpectedly.
- dangus 3y agoI don't know how this is relevant. Are you trying to hypothesize that Texas' "keep business open" response to COVID helped business medium-term confidence? I will point out that Texas has one of the country's HIGHEST unemployment rates: https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm Only 5 states have higher unemployment. It's 2023, I don't think COVID is relevant to any business decision anymore. If we are going to make up hypotheses on what drives employers to relocate to Texas, I will submit the idea that Texas' poor workers' rights are attractive to business owners: https://www.keranews.org/news/2022-09-13/texas-is-one-of-the-worst-states-in-the-country-for-workers-heres-why https://www.keranews.org/news/2022-09-13/texas-is-one-of-the...
- camhart 3y agoAre you arguing that shutting down portions of the economy made no impact on the economy? I find that hard to believe.
- KerrAvon 3y ago[flagged]
- adventured 3y agoThose BLS numbers are garbage. Maryland's unemployment rate is not 1.6%. You'd have to dig into the state by state presentations on unemployment to get a proper picture and comparison. It's quite a time consuming task.
- dangus 3y agoOkay, maybe you should do that and come back with a proper analysis. Personally I would trust federal numbers more than “some guy says nuh-uh that can’t be right.”
- mc32 3y agoIt’s also business climate (regulation) and crime. While SF I’d not Cal it’s a bell weather and businesses are rethinking NY State and Cal. Of course for many it’s still viable to stay but some have moved and some more are considering it. I don’t mean it’ll become Detroit —a one trick pony, and collapse but it could mimic 1980s NYC when biz moved across the river.
- dangus 3y agoIs it really crime? San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston all have higher burglary rates than Oakland, CA and San Francisco. New York City has the lowest burglary rate on the entire top 100 list. Dallas and Houston have higher total violent crime rates than Los Angeles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b... Speaking of regulation, could it be that businesses prefer Texas due to poor workers' rights? https://www.keranews.org/news/2022-09-13/texas-is-one-of-the-worst-states-in-the-country-for-workers-heres-why https://www.keranews.org/news/2022-09-13/texas-is-one-of-the... I'm also unsure what California business climate is stifling businesses there, considering it is the #1 GDP economy in the country, 5th highest state in GDP per capita, and only 5 or 6 entire countries in the world have larger economies. Is there a specific regulation that is stopping your business idea from working in California?
- selimthegrim 3y agoBusiness climate.
- dangus 3y agoI misread you, fixed my comment. But I'm still confused, what is not good about the business climate? It is the #1 GDP in the country, #5 GDP per capita, larger than all but 5 or 6 countries in the entire world. Home to a huge number of companies in the S&P 500 like Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Chevron, Intel, Walt Disney, HP, Cisco, Oracle, and the list goes on. Why haven't they moved to other states? What, specifically, is bad about the business climate in California? And I'm talking about things that can't be easily refuted with basic facts.
- lukevp 3y agoTexas has a pretty strong and diversified economy. Lots of oil both in midland/Odessa and in the gulf. Energy sector is big in Houston. Decent tech presence in Austin although lots of focus on lower level jobs (phone/support/etc). Dallas has lots of finance. Manufacturing is big there too, and transportation. One of the things I worried about when I moved out of Texas was leaving such a strong and diversified economy… but after Covid and the normalization of remote work, this is thankfully less of an issue now. I hope remote work is here to stay. It helps prevent the centralization of labor around existing cities and lets the wealth of society spread more uniformly throughout the country.
- suoduandao2 3y agoYeah, I'm from a poor rural community and the difference remote work would make to a place like Walton, Nova Scotia if future generations grow up feeling secure in it would be hard to express. Really breaking a cycle of poverty for a lot of regions that are absolutely breathtaking in natural beauty.
- ddavis 3y ago5ish+ years ago Austin had more of the lower level tech jobs, but definitely not anymore (consistent spectrum now).
- ghiculescu 3y agoMy anecdotal observation is the opposite. It seems like since Covid, demand to live in big cities has gone up much faster than before. You can mostly see / feel this in property prices.
- kredd 3y agoYeah, small data point, but everyone in my circles who tried "remote life" realized why they're not fond of it, moved back into cities. It's not for everyone, and it's definitely not for me. Giving up walkability, being surrounded basically endless amount of options, and the ability to get away if I want to is a no-brainer for me.
- toddmorey 3y agoWhile low unemployment is good, I worry about the quality of employment. For the San Antonio area, 46% of households — more than 240,000 households — can't afford the essentials such as housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and a basic smartphone plan. This data from ALICE, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. It's a stubborn number that hasn't budged in over a decade. About half the city really struggles to make ends meet.
- spacecadet 3y agoGreat points and anyone who has lived or pasted through Texas knows the reality here. BS article.
- ImJamal 3y agoIt seems kind of weird to just bring up a random place in Texas. The poverty rate in Huron California is over 40%. I'm not sure what that is supposed to prove though. It seems better to bring up the state as a whole. 12.2% of Californians are living in poverty and 14% of Texans are. If a few cities are having issues it seems like there are issues in those cities, not necessarily the state. That is not to say the state can't do anything to help, but if other cities are not experiencing those same issues then it seems like it is a different issue going on.
- webkike 3y agoA random place in Texas? San Antonio is a large city with a population of 1.4 million. Huron, for comparison has a population of 6 _thousand_
- ImJamal 3y agoSan Antonio was chosen because it has the highest poverty level out of the largest cities in Texas. Why not choose the largest city in Texas? It was chosen specifically to make look Texas look bad which is why I suggested looking at the entire state.
- bannedbybros 3y ago[dead]
- hsnewman 3y agoI recently moved from Austin to Portland voluntarily to retire in a lifestyle less hostile to the people living there. The quality of life in Texas is far from good.
- kardianos 3y agoI moved from Portland to Texas to live in a lifestyle less hostile to the people living there. The quality of life in Portland is far from good.
- ryder9 3y agocould you elaborate what you don't like about portland that you do about texas? just the political atmosphere? or something more specific? also what part of texas, one of the big cities? a suburban city? rural?
- kardianos 3y agoGenerally politics, specifically state mandated school curriculum. Right after we moved out, Oregon passed laws decriminalizing hard drugs and removed graduation requirements (and they are considering continuing waiving graduation requirements I hear). The Oregon teacher's association (and gov in general) got a sweet retirement deal in the 90's, that they "realized" that deal is draining the state of money it needs. The teachers association is trying to teach fewer hours each day (for the kids) and have more half days (once a week) for teacher prep (for the kids). One of my kids was directly saying teachers would talk up direct action activism the the like in class. Then the new curriculum came out that had sex ed starting in Kindergarten and had massive ideological components to them. This was in 2020 and it has continued unabated from there. These were state level activities; districts can't meaningfully push back; teachers could be fired for not adhering to them. I have family who are teachers so I don't speak from ignorance here. Texas ISDs (independent school districts) also get funding from the state, but they get much more funding locally. Practically speaking, Texas ISDs vary much more. So do your research. Then support what is good and seek to improve to make it even better.
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- broupannoiffuto 3y ago[flagged]
- mcculley 3y agoHow many employees in Texas are illegal? States that want to complain about illegal immigration should mandate E-Verify for all employers. This would force them to be honest about how much businesses profit from illegal labor. But it is easier to keep gullible voters distracted talking about walls.
- cscurmudgeon 3y agoIs it mandatory in NY? If I remember correct, NY has also started complaining about illegal immigration.
- cj 3y agoVerifying employment eligibility is mandatory in all states. > All U.S. employers must properly complete Form I-9 for every individual they hire for employment in the United States Although that requirement probably doesn’t apply to contractors. Edit: Major pitfall (or advantage depending on your perspective) of the I-9 system is that it only requires employers to fill out the form and “keep it on file” in case the government asks to see it. E-verify introduces the ability to share and verify that information digitally with the government (where without e-verify the form would just sit in someone’s filing cabinet or Google drive).
- mcculley 3y agoI am an employer who is required to use E-Verify. Very few employers use E-Verify. There is no verification of the social security number done for an I-9 form if the employer is not using E-Verify.
- cj 3y agoI-9 technically requires employers to inspect the original document (passport, or drivers license + social security card, or birth certificate + photo ID, etc). Photocopies not allowed. Inspecting the original document should be a high enough bar for verification (assuming the employer isn’t knowingly trying to subvert the system). E-verify exists to provide an alternative to inspecting the physical document. But in reality I’m guessing most small employers take shortcuts and don’t inspect the documents as they should or don’t keep records of I-9 at all (the form is very rarely needed for anything)