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June 19, 2009
Today's news that the Texas unemployment has risen to 7.1% isn't good news for Rick Perry. The Republican governor has been touting his stewardship of the Texas economy as a reason to reelect him. The May number marks a jump from 6.6 percent the previous month. To be fair, the Texas economy is better than other states. The national unemployment number is over 9 percent and rising.
Perry will be making that point with voters a lot over the next eight months. Unemployment is projected to continue rising through next March's GOP primary against Kay Bailey Hutchison.
There are indications the GOP governing class in Texas didn't expect it to be this bad. Eagle-eyed Harvey Kromberg at the Quorum Report notes that job losses are nearly double what Comptroller Susan Combs predicted earlier this year. Combs revenue estimate to legislative budget-writers was predicated on 90,000 job losses by October of this year. The actual combined losses from January through May hover around 170,000. Meanwhile, Perry has rejected $555 million in unemployment money from the federal stimulus package. That will leave Texas businesses with a higher tax increase to fill the nearly depleted state unemployment fund.
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