Actually, Texas Wasn't Adding Jobs Q3 2008

As Texans went to the polls last November, they were under the impression that their state was an exception to the job losses happening other places. But a recent notice posted by the Dallas Federal Reserve says that in the 3rd Quarter of 2008 Texas jobs declined by 0.9 percent and did not grow by 1.5 percent as officially estimated at the time.

The Dallas Fed says that its revised numbers are based upon quarterly reviews submitted by the Texas Workforce Commission. Not only did the Q3 review by TWC call for the third consecutive downward revision in employment numbers, but each time the amount of difference between preliminary and revised figures grew larger.

“The magnitude of these consecutive downward revisions escalated from -0.8 to -1.3 to -2.4 percentage points.” Which is to say, the closer the election got the further the official job reports in Texas varied from what was actually taking place on the street.

And while we’re in that downturn mood, check out the stack of global charts posted by the Dallas Fed on Jan. 30. In all the plummeting slopes there are two little hooks for your hopes: (1) in the Baltic Dry Index (which is still inching upward) and (2) in the JP Morgan All-Industry PMI.