Governor
Rick Perry is quick to tout the job growth in Texas as one of his defining characteristics, accomplishments and results that Americans should depend on when considering him for the Republican nomination for president. Placing this issue front and center has pushed him forward and convinced many that he may be the candidate to support to resurrect a climate of positive job creation in this country. As there is a continued downturn in the US job market it seems like a plausible consideration until you actually take a look at the job climate Perry created in Texas. As with everything in politics bending things in your favor when the truth is not quite as appealing is an art form. And Perry, his team and supporters are either masters or blinded by numbers they have not looked into.
The Center for Immigration Studies has taken up the challenge of actually looking into the jobs created in Texas and just who those jobs went to in a new report.
The report confirms that jobs were created in Texas, 279,000 to be exact, over the last 4 years from 2007 to 2011. Who has received these jobs and how this impacts the United States as a whole - should Perry become president - is another matter. The report, which used census data, finds that of the 279,000 jobs created 225,000 of those jobs went to immigrants, both legal and illegal, who arrived in the US in the same four year period.
The majority of growth of working age people in Texas - 69% - was of native born Texans. Yet of this group they only received 19% of the newly created jobs in the state. The rest went to immigrants who came into the state since 2007.
Half of the 81% of jobs immigrants received were taken by illegal aliens.
The most damning statistic the report finds is that half of the 81% of jobs immigrants received were taken by illegal aliens. Thus
40% of all job growth in Texas in the past four years went to illegal aliens, 40% went to non-citizen legal immigrants and 19% went to native Texans who are US citizens.
The report finds also that the jobs taken are far from the "jobs Americans won't do". The job types taken were not only of a low-skilled blue collar type; a third of the immigrants who took a job had some college. It was across the educational spectrum of jobs that immigrants received over native Texans. I contend that it is not because the immigrants were more qualified, but that the jobs climate that Rick Perry created in the state of Texas was in favor of immigrants over the native born.
When just the number of employed native born Texans are analyzed for the past four years, the numbers speak volumes as to the truth of the jobs situation in Texas. In 2007 the percent of native born Texans with a job was 71%, in 2011 it is 67%, a 4% drop in native employment. As the report points out this is consistent with the rate of employment of all the other states.
... it is difficult to find evidence to support the argument that things are very different in Texas than in the rest of the country for the native-born population. In the second quarter of 2011, the unemployment rate in Texas was 8.1 percent for natives, ranking the state 22nd out of 50 states in terms of the lowest rate. If we compare the growth in unemployment from 2007 to 2011, the rate roughly doubled in Texas, which is very similar to what happened in the country as a whole. The share of working-age natives holding a job in Texas was 66.6 percent in 2011, ranking Texas 29th in the nation. Both the unemployment rate and the employment rate represent a significant deterioration for natives since 2007. A deterioration that roughly parallels what took place in the rest of the nation.
Is this really a jobs program we want for the United States?
When governor Perry points out that he's created jobs, he has created jobs for non-citizens in his state. He has created jobs for those who cannot vote for him, while those who supported him are left out of a job. It is simply ludicrous to have the largest growth in your state be native Texans, yet to have 81% of new jobs not go to those native Texans and then to turn around and call that a win for your state on job creation.
The reality is that Texas governor Rick Perry has encouraged illegal immigration. He has also encouraged legal immigrants in his state to create and give jobs to other immigrants, both illegal and legal over US citizens. There can simply be no other way to look at it. There is no reason for growth to be in one segment of the population, denying it to all the others unless the job climate created favored that situation. It defies logic and reason to see this happen and not believe that there is either an incentive balance created by the state legislature of Texas and Rick Perry, or there is some outright racism going on favoring immigrants over citizens in how people are being hired. The only other false argument that could be made is to believe that native Texans are simply a lazy bunch of people - and that I do not believe.
The facts point out that Rick Perry is the governor of the non-citizen.
This all boils down to the truth of the matter and that truth is that the facts point out that Rick Perry is the governor of the non-citizen. He looks out for non-citizens first and touts his job creation among them as his highest accomplishment. That is not what we need for the United States. We need a leader who is willing to support the creation of jobs among
all segments of society and not put in place incentives that favor illegal aliens and the guests we have allowed to come to our country over the citizens of our nation.
When you hear Perry say anything about job creation in Texas, remember that the US Citizens in Texas were not among those who received those jobs by and large, they were illegal aliens and guests we have invited in to compete directly against American workers who have taken 81% of the jobs in Texas.
