Better Than No Job

Paul Krugman of The New York Times recently dismissed the

job growth in Texas because they are low paying jobs.

Kevin Williamson of National Review Online does an excellent

job of responding to Krugman. Snippet:

How different? Let’s look at the data: In spite of the fact that

Texas did not have a housing crash like the rest of the country,

housing remains quite inexpensive there. The typical

owner-occupied home in Brooklyn costs well over a

half-million dollars. In Suffolk County it’s nearly $400,000.

In Houston? A whopping $130,100. Put another way: In

Houston, the median household income is 39 percent of

the cost of a typical house. In Brooklyn, the median

household income is 8 percent of the cost of the median home,

and in Boston it’s only 14 percent. When it comes to

homeownership, $1 in earnings in Houston is worth a lot more

than $1 in Brooklyn or Boston. But even that doesn’t really

tell the story, because the typical house in Houston doesn’t

look much like the typical house in Brooklyn: Some 64 percent

of the homes in Houston are single-family units, i.e., houses. In

Brooklyn, 85 percent are multi-family units, i.e. apartments and

condos.

Yes, Texas jobs do not pay what other states might pay but

our cost of living is low. Also, I would prefer to have a job than

have no job. A job is a job. Even a sucky, low paying job can

afford you opportunities to move up the economic ladder

if you choose to take advantage of them. So many employers

that I know locally help out with tuition if you want to go

back to school. This might shock some liberals: But some

businesses actually want an educated workforce so they

can promote within the company.