We all know that “Everything is Bigger in Texas”.
Everything is bigger in Texas
Squirrels are so big you can ride them. Trucks are big. Catfish are big, Boots are big. The State Fair is big. Texas is bigger than Germany and then some.
Everything is bigger in Texas.
The same is true for job gains.
The change for the month of October
In the most recent month (see chart above), Texas added 35.2 thousand jobs. This was the second largest gain behind California.
Of course with size and population, comes more jobs but Texas has been doing much better than the bigger, more populated US states – in good times and in bad.
The jobs lost during the 2008-2010 jobs recesssion
Looking at the chart above, it shows the jobs lost during the last job recession (from February 2008 to February 2010). California shed a whooping 1.26 million jobs,Florida lost 765K, Ohio lost 428K, Illinois lost 406K, New York 293K and Texas lost 322 K. That is a significant number but relatively, it was not that bad.
How about during the jobs recovery? How and where have the jobs been created since the jobs recession ended in March 2010?
The chart below shows the distribution of jobs added by state. Texas and California, are leading the way . Of course, both states are the most populated states. California has an estimated population of 38.2M and Texas has 26.4M. NY, in contrast has 19.6M people, but they only added 543.7K jobs. Florida with 19.5K population was respectable at 726.1K, Illinois with 12.8K people added 268.5 and Ohio with 11.6K added 308.4K.
California and Texas are running neck and neck in jobs created since the job recession ended.
What is the net effect since the jobs recession started?
This is where Texas shines. Since February 2008 when the jobs recession started, the net job gain has been 1,145M jobs. This far outpaces, the next highest state – New York at 250.7K. California has added only 186K and Florida has not recovered all the jobs lost. They are still short by -38.9K.
Overall, 24 US states are still in the negative with Illinois still shy by -138.2K. Twenty seven states (including the Washington, DC) have net gains since 2008, but only 6 have added more than 100K including Colorado (+108K), Massachusetts (+106K), North Dakota (+107.6K – oil driven), California (+186K), New York (+251K) and Texas (1.145M).
If you live in Texas everything is bigger especially when it resolves around job gains. No wonder Dallas Fed President, Richard Fisher is such a hawk. He is the Bundesbank President in the United States.
The net change in jobs by state since February 2008
