The Bureau of Labor Statistics today released state employment and unemployment data for January 2013, and we took the liberty of comparing the nation’s two economic heavyweights, Texas and California, to see who outperformed who. The winner is clear. 

 

Two-year trend

 

  •      From Jan. 2011 to Jan. 2013, California added 488,600 jobs.
  •      From Jan. 2011 to Jan. 2013, Texas added 581,300 jobs.

 

One-year trend

  •       From Jan. 2012 to Jan. 2013, California added 254,900 jobs.
  •       From Jan. 2012 to Jan. 2013, Texas added 310,900 jobs.

 

 

Unemployment 

 

  •       California is tied with Rhode Island for having the highest unemployment rate: 9.8 percent,       unchanged from last month.
  •       Texas’ unemployment rate is: 6.3 percent, up from 6.2 percent in December, even as Texas         added 10,400 jobs in January and California added 1,700 jobs.

To show how remarkable Texas’ numbers are, consider this: California has a civilian labor force of 18,591,111 while Texas has a labor force of 12,680,661. This means that California has a workforce that’s 47 percent larger than Texas’ but Texas created 19 percent more jobs in the past 2 years and 22 percent more jobs in the past year!

 

Texas again proves that its model of low taxes and limited government is a success.