Remarks to the Headliners Club

Austin, Texas, February 27, 2007 ; "Last year, employment grew twice as fast in Texas as it did in the rest of the United States. Construction payrolls grew at five times the U.S. rate. We added 26,000 net new factory jobs in 2006, while the nation's manufacturers posted an overall loss of 110,300 jobs. The energy sector grew its workforce by over 13 percent, well outpacing the rest of the country's 7.5 percent rate. Our energy sector still only employs about 2 percent of our workforce. Texas excels at the high-value-added end of the equation: Our output per worker in computers and electronics has overtaken California's."