The dark side of Texas jobs

I've heard the Texas pitch before.

It's an enviable track record of job creation, but a hiring spree with some noteworthy issues.

Rick Perry, the Texas governor, on his state's sky high rate of workplace deaths: "I don't think it has anything to do with the regulation side."

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So I had a key question for Rick Perry, the state's governor, on Wednesday as he wound up a whirlwind business recruitment tour in California with a media conference call from Laguna Beach.

Perry was detailing Texas' successes, with a few less-than-subtle jabs at California. He said he heard in his meetings with California business leaders that his state's low-tax, low-regulation, low-litigation formula sounds very attractive.

I asked Perry if he could explain the state's sky-high rate of workplace deaths. Did Texas' much-hyped business-friendly regulatory environment have anything to do with that national leading trend ? not a number that Perry bragged about in his please-move-to-Texas spiel?

"I don't think it has anything to do with the regulation side," Perry replied of his state's high worker death counts. "It has to do with the types of jobs we have. You in California are not very knowledgeable about the energy industry, and that is a fairly dangerous workplace."

Perry did admit to the challenge, "we do have our fair share of on-site injuries and deaths at the workplace; but it's not because of a lack of regulation."

Let me put the Texas situation in perspective.

I've collected in my trusty spreadsheet the past nine years of federal workplace deaths data by state. Since Perry is pitching Texas in California, let's compare this ultimate measure of worker safety from the freewheeling Lone State and our Golden State ? often criticized in business circles for overprotective laws.

From 2003 through 2011 ? the latest stats available ? 4,282 Texans were killed at work vs. 3,949 workplace deaths in California. But that 8 percent difference ? at first glance, not much ? should be adjusted by California's large-but-shrinking jobs advantage between the states.

What you then see is that in these nine years Texas had 4.21 workplace deaths per 10,000 workers employed vs. 2.72 in California. That's 55 percent more deaths on a per capita basis.

But I wanted to see if Perry's explanation rang true ? that the risky energy business explains the workplace-death difference.

Since 2003, deaths in California's mining industries ? a catch-all for every extraction industry including oil and gas ? totaled 39 workers. In Texas oil and gas extraction trades in these nine years, 366 workers died.

Still, when you subtract those extraction industries from the broad totals, you still find that Texans die on the job at a 43 percent higher rate than Californians.

Even workers in the wide-ranging service-worker category ? those not extracting or creating goods ? died at Texas workplaces at a 37 percent faster pace than Californians from 2003 to 2011, by my math.

Perry seemed perplexed ? one Houston Chronicle blogger said he "bristled" ? at my question, as if his own cherry-picking of Texas-favorable statistics was somehow more enlightened.

"An interesting thing to me is that people spend a lot of time digging through to find that one statistic that they want to hold up and talk about," he said to reporters. "The fact is that all of these states are in competition. And there is a direct correlation between jobs that are created and taxation and regulation burdens upon business. And that is what we're focused on."

And he added: "I am, as are all Texans, very focused on the safety of our citizens."

Competition among states for jobs is a good thing. We need states with various textures of economies and cultures and climates to offer wide options to both domestic and foreign corporations and workers.

But dead workers is not just "one statistic" ? it's a reminder of workplace risks. Nobody can eliminate those sad happenings, as bosses, and workers, are human ? so fatal mistakes are made and accidents do happen.

But if competition revolves around transparency, as it should, then Texas' risky workplaces ? whether due to the nature of the work or boss-chummy regulators ? should be part of the discussion.

Because there is a big difference between an extra percent or so of job growth or profit margin ? and another dead worker.

Contact the writer: 949-777-6727 or jlansner@ocregister.com

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/texas-495888-perry-california.html

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