Do You Like Job Creation?

| August 28, 2011

Then you might want to look to where job creation has occurred. Dana Pico posted a pie chart I found very interesting. It shows only 9 states plus Washington DC added jobs from June 2006 to June 2011.* (Washington DC is most likely all government jobs, so it doesn’t really count.) While the pie chart focused on the Texas job creation, I wanted to do a little number crunching myself. And of course, the numbers are very interesting.

The pie chart says “with roughly 8 percent of the nation’s population, Texas added 73.4 percent of the nation’s new jobs.” I decided to look at the US as a whole, Texas, and Alaska. Here’s the data I used:

According to the 2010 US Census,
The US population was 308,745,538
Texas population was 25,145,561
Alaska population was 710,231

According to the pie chart,
Texas added 537,500 jobs (73.4 percent of total)
Alaska added 11,500 jobs (1.6 percent of total)

US Job Growth (in thousands)

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 61 months from June 2006 through June 2011,
US lost 4,818,000 jobs

Now for some number crunching.
Alaska has 0.2 percent of the US population and of the 9 states plus DC that added jobs, Alaska accounts for 1.6 percent of the added jobs.
Texas has 8.1 percent of the US population and of the 9 states plus DC that added jobs, Texas accounts for 73.4 percent of the added jobs.

Alaska added 1,619 jobs per 100,000 population.
Texas added 2,138 jobs per 100,000 population.
US lost 1,561 jobs per 100,000 population.

Subtracting out Alaska and Texas population and job growth,
US lost 5,367,000 jobs total or 1,897 jobs per 100,000 population.

To recap, Alaska and Texas combined for 549,000 new jobs or 2,123 jobs per 100,000 population while the rest of the US lost 5,367,000 jobs or 1,897 jobs per 100,000 population. I suggest Sarah Palin and Rick Perry are both better qualified to create an atmosphere where jobs can be created than either George W Bush or Barack Obama; however, if you look at the BLS chart, the US didn’t start shedding jobs (other than one month in 2006 and two months in 2007) until 2008, and since the new Democrat Congress — both the House and the Senate – was sworn in in January of 2007, George W Bush might, just might get a pass.

(*Dana Pico noted the Democrat carried DC and New York in each of the last three Presidential elections while the Republican carried the other eight states in each of the last three Presidential elections.)
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Category: Caffeinated States, Economy/Taxes, Job Creation, National Politics & Government, Obama Administration, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin

About the Author ()

John Hitchcock is a Christian first, Conservative second, Republican third (but only because there is not a viable Conservative party). He's the proprietor of Truth Before Dishonor, a contributor at the now archive-only Common Sense Political Thought, and a contributor at The First Street Journal. He has two daughters. His second daughter is already awaiting him in Heaven. His first daughter was invited by the US Army to guard a prison in northern Iraq, which she did for 15 months. He spent time in the mid-80s at Malone College, studying to become a high school math teacher, but couldn't complete my education due to financial constraints. He home-educated his first daughter 4 grades in 3 years. He has spent time as an Over-The-Road trucker, a local trucker, a shift supervisor of local truckers; an industrial worker making precast concrete forms, business labels, fiberglass insulation, heating and cooling ductwork; a union steward, and most recently producing garbage bags for an international corporation.