Texas State University’s Board of Regents has released a report that found the state has one of the lowest numbers of new jobs per capita in the nation.
The state’s unemployment rate has been 8.7 percent, the fifth-lowest among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
And the median household income has dropped nearly 6 percent from 2016, according to the study released Wednesday by the university’s College of Engineering.
The report also found the number of Texas students attending school at the state’s colleges and universities is at its lowest level since the late 1970s.
It also found there were fewer job openings in 2017 than in any year since the state began keeping track of job openings.
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The job numbers came as the Texas Legislature was considering legislation that would cut tuition at public universities by about a third and make the state the first in the country to abolish the $7,500 cap on tuition.
State Rep. Steve Sisolak, D-Houston, said he was glad that the report showed Texas has the highest number of jobs per resident in the world.
The U.S. unemployment rate for 2017 was 8.4 percent.
Texas is No. 4 in the U.K., No. 6 in France and No. 8 in Germany.
The state has the fifth highest number per capita of jobless people in the entire nation.
State Treasurer Brian Kemp, R-Houston said the state should invest in education in order to create a more prosperous economy for its citizens.
The Austin American-Statesman reported in February that Texas had the second-lowth lowest number of college students per capita, behind only Wyoming.
