I read a report yesterday or the day before, confirming what most of us living in Texas strongly suspected. Our state is well ahead of the curve in terms of job growth. The cities of Dallas and Ft.Worth rank above the rest of the nation in terms of job growth. Houston is a close second. The jobless rate in the metroplex is down slightly from eight percent to roughly seven and a half, admittedly a small decline, but a good one considering the national average is nine percent. There are a number of ways to crunch the numbers, obviously, but in terms of both population and job growth Texas is definitely better off than most of our sister states; far better off than some. I’m not suggesting that times are exactly good here, just better.
The category of growth I found most interesting, both for me personally and for Tyler, comes in the area of Education and Health Care. These two fields seem to be growing albeit slowly, with an interesting stipulation: it includes private as opposed to public schools. The article I read cites 6.4 percent growth in the Ft. Worth area, and 5.2 in the Dallas area. While these numbers relate specifically to the metroplex, this category is of course the largest field of employment in East Texas. With the public schools in Texas experience big cutbacks, private schools are growing, and hiring new staff. While its admittedly anecdotal evidence, I can attest to this, as I recently accepted a position at a new private school in our area.
I think the relative health of the Texas economy comes as a result of a generally pro-business administration, and a lack of state income tax, which encourages immigration from states like California (and others), that are incredibly overburdened by regulation and taxation. Incidentally, the Bureau of Labor put San Francisco near the bottom of the job growth list with -0.3 percent growth when compared to last year.
There really is no justice, even in East Texas. I’m referring of course to the guilty plea that allowed the rest of the Mineola pedophiles to be released on the grounds of time served. Excuse me but, there isn’t enough time! The report I read stated that judge Skeen and the prosecution didn’t have the heart to put the child victims through another round of excruciating testimony. This is a compelling argument to me. I can’t imagine having sit through the account myself, let alone live through it! What really sticks in my craw is that these worthless defendants are actually profiting by their horrific actions by holding the threat of telling their story over the heads of the children and their families, thereby abusing them all over again! I was not one of the Tylerites upset when the court brought rather severe sentences for the church arsonists last year. But it seems now that they were condemned by their defense’s inability to black mail the victims and their families with the threat of making them repeatedly relive their crimes. As I say, I understand the judge’s reasoning in this case, but it doesn’t make the result any easier to take.
Are you a guy that sits behind a desk all day working for yourself and yet you do nothing to stay healthy or lose weight?
I often write about events happening at area private schools, particularly when those schools are trying to raise funds. One school that I’ve not written a whole lot about, due largely to the fact that I really have no close ties to it; is East Texas Christian Academy (ETCA). Given however that I am a proponent of Private Christian Education, I thought I would give them a plug. As readers may or may not be aware, ETCA is experiencing quite a bit of growth. They just completed a new facility, and are now working on raising funds to grow their athletic department. Private schools in general, are likely to continue to grow in the face of cut backs in the public schools, especially in Tyler where the education market has been somewhat flooded in recent years. And with private athletics offering more opportunities every year, parents and families are likely to take an even greater interest in non-government schools.