Spotlight: Texas employment : gains aren’t simply a low-wage jobs story

Abstract

Amid reports of the nation’s weak economic recovery, high unemployment and slow job growth, attention has turned to Texas, the only large state on track to surpass its prerecession peak employment by year-end. Since the U.S. recession concluded in 2009, Texas employment has grown 3.3 percent, compared with 0.6 percent for the rest of the states.[1] Texas added 827,000 jobs, an 8.7 percent increase, between 2001 and 2010 and expanded in every category except manufacturing, information and construction. The nation lost 2.8 million jobs during that period, a 2.3 percent decline.Job creation