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
Yea, that’s why all those people are flocking to Texas.
They want to come here and get minimum wage jobs.
Would you rather there be no jobs created or minimum wage jobs?
For the last three years, any job creation has a miracle with this administration in charge.