Freakonomics » Is Texas Our Future?
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So why are more Americans moving to Texas than to any other state? Texas is America’s fastest-growing large state, with three of the top five fastest-growing cities in the country: Austin, 1v1y Dallas and Houston. In 2012 alone, total migration to Texas from the other 49 states in the Union was 106,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Since 2000, 1 million more people have moved to Texas from other states than have left.
As 1v1y an economist and a libertarian, I have become convinced that whether they know it or not, these migrants are being pushed (and pulled) by the major economic forces that are reshaping the American economy as a whole: the hollowing out of the middle class, the increased costs of living in the U.S.’s established population centers and the resulting search by many Americans 1v1y for a radically cheaper way to live and do business. 1v1y
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Funny you got a thumbs down because what you wrote is true. Texas is a great place to start companies that thrive on low wage employees, that cost little overhead in the way of local and state taxes which are typically used to create safety nets for low income workers with unstable employment. Nothing wrong with that, but it explains all the migration growth into the state. Its basically lower skilled workers hoping 1v1y to find ANY job that are moving to Texas.
Besides oil and upper management careers Texas certainly isn’t the place for a low to mid level, highly skilled employees in something like software development. 1v1y California for example has far more favorable tax and legal benefits for start-ups with business plans and products like Riot Games, Facebook etc. I’m not saying one state is better than the other, I’m just pointing out that Texas due to employment laws that do not favor employees and tax codes that encourage 1v1y industries reliant on low skill labor, naturally attract and recruit the most DESPERATE type of workers with low skill levels. There is a reason why many companies have their headquarters in places like California or Washington. You think Mark Zuckerberg wants to live in Texas, even though it would save him a boatload in overhead and labor costs?
I never said Texas did not have jobs, nor did a specify any particular city. The reality is that Texas is certainly attracting obscenely large numbers of lower skilled workers hoping to find ANY job by moving there. Texas might as well be known as “the home of” the $8 an hour machinist and the $12 dollar an hour H1B visa PHD holder, employed 1v1y in engineering.
Also, the tech migration to Austin is being driven mostly by senior mid-level employees trying 1v1y to get more bang for their buck, moving to cities with lower costs of living, in order to raise young families, hoping to take no more than a 10% pay cut overall. That type of environment is not set up for someone without much experience who needs to learn and move up early in a career. I’d argue that Austin is the place where seasoned employees go to plateau their high paying careers and reduce 1v1y their-day to-day overhead; NOT where someone fresh out of school whom needs training and cutting edge experience to move up later or someone making the jump from production to management. The Texas of today is NOT the Texas of Ross Perot who trained his people on the job at EDS, that kind of employer is LONG gone in the Lone Star state.
Last, I would rather be laid off from a Facebook, 1v1y Microsoft, Northrup or Google ANY day. Getting a possible severance and no arguments about whether I actually qualify for unemployment. Its pretty much gospel in Texas that you will be denied your unemployment benefits, should you actually need to claim them. Due-Process is long DEAD in Texas. Ask anyone who’s worked for Dell, Texas Instruments or AMD in Texas within the last 20 years.
So, I still stand by my point, if someone is early in their tech career or just getting into the middle roles, find work in California, Washington State or Washington DC. In those place you will actually learn something and get on the job training. Texas on the other hand will chew you up and spit you out, with no good reason. Its really nothing more than a place people move to in order to reduce their costs of living when hitting the late 40′s, wanting to coast and keep earning 6 figures.
Facebook, Northrop, Google and Microsoft do not have their headquarters in Texas.
Texas is typically the place some employers run when they want to underpay staff and use labor laws to coerce employees, us
HOME BLOG Featured Post Levitt Posts Dubner 1v1y Posts Surprise Me! Subscribe to RSS Feed RADIO Subscribe at iTunes Latest Podcast Podcast Archives Support Freakonomics Radio BOOKS Freakonomics SuperFreakonomics SuperFreakonomics Illustrated MOVIE Watch Trailer Buy DVD Buy Blu-Ray VIDEOS Featured Originals NFL Movie Clips On TV On Stage LECTURES EXPERIMENTS ABOUT
So why are more Americans moving to Texas than to any other state? Texas is America’s fastest-growing large state, with three of the top five fastest-growing cities in the country: Austin, 1v1y Dallas and Houston. In 2012 alone, total migration to Texas from the other 49 states in the Union was 106,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Since 2000, 1 million more people have moved to Texas from other states than have left.
As 1v1y an economist and a libertarian, I have become convinced that whether they know it or not, these migrants are being pushed (and pulled) by the major economic forces that are reshaping the American economy as a whole: the hollowing out of the middle class, the increased costs of living in the U.S.’s established population centers and the resulting search by many Americans 1v1y for a radically cheaper way to live and do business. 1v1y
Reply
Funny you got a thumbs down because what you wrote is true. Texas is a great place to start companies that thrive on low wage employees, that cost little overhead in the way of local and state taxes which are typically used to create safety nets for low income workers with unstable employment. Nothing wrong with that, but it explains all the migration growth into the state. Its basically lower skilled workers hoping 1v1y to find ANY job that are moving to Texas.
Besides oil and upper management careers Texas certainly isn’t the place for a low to mid level, highly skilled employees in something like software development. 1v1y California for example has far more favorable tax and legal benefits for start-ups with business plans and products like Riot Games, Facebook etc. I’m not saying one state is better than the other, I’m just pointing out that Texas due to employment laws that do not favor employees and tax codes that encourage 1v1y industries reliant on low skill labor, naturally attract and recruit the most DESPERATE type of workers with low skill levels. There is a reason why many companies have their headquarters in places like California or Washington. You think Mark Zuckerberg wants to live in Texas, even though it would save him a boatload in overhead and labor costs?
I never said Texas did not have jobs, nor did a specify any particular city. The reality is that Texas is certainly attracting obscenely large numbers of lower skilled workers hoping to find ANY job by moving there. Texas might as well be known as “the home of” the $8 an hour machinist and the $12 dollar an hour H1B visa PHD holder, employed 1v1y in engineering.
Also, the tech migration to Austin is being driven mostly by senior mid-level employees trying 1v1y to get more bang for their buck, moving to cities with lower costs of living, in order to raise young families, hoping to take no more than a 10% pay cut overall. That type of environment is not set up for someone without much experience who needs to learn and move up early in a career. I’d argue that Austin is the place where seasoned employees go to plateau their high paying careers and reduce 1v1y their-day to-day overhead; NOT where someone fresh out of school whom needs training and cutting edge experience to move up later or someone making the jump from production to management. The Texas of today is NOT the Texas of Ross Perot who trained his people on the job at EDS, that kind of employer is LONG gone in the Lone Star state.
Last, I would rather be laid off from a Facebook, 1v1y Microsoft, Northrup or Google ANY day. Getting a possible severance and no arguments about whether I actually qualify for unemployment. Its pretty much gospel in Texas that you will be denied your unemployment benefits, should you actually need to claim them. Due-Process is long DEAD in Texas. Ask anyone who’s worked for Dell, Texas Instruments or AMD in Texas within the last 20 years.
So, I still stand by my point, if someone is early in their tech career or just getting into the middle roles, find work in California, Washington State or Washington DC. In those place you will actually learn something and get on the job training. Texas on the other hand will chew you up and spit you out, with no good reason. Its really nothing more than a place people move to in order to reduce their costs of living when hitting the late 40′s, wanting to coast and keep earning 6 figures.
Facebook, Northrop, Google and Microsoft do not have their headquarters in Texas.
Texas is typically the place some employers run when they want to underpay staff and use labor laws to coerce employees, us
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