Despite Texas being all the buzz when it comes to business, the state received some peculiar rankings in this year’s Top States for Business study from CNBC.
Texas was ranked the fifth best state in the country for business but the second worst to live, and received an “F” in the life, health, and inclusion category, according to the team behind the CNBC study.
The team found that skilled workers are running into “quality of life” (QoL) issues after settling in Texas, citing supposed “limited childcare options, a stressed health care system with the highest rate of uninsured, new curbs on voting rights, and few protections against discrimination.”
Dietrich von Biedenfeld, a business professor at the University of Houston – Downtown, was not surprised by the study’s results, saying QoL factors like health care and paid time off are on the top of Gen Z’s and Millennials’ minds when it comes to choosing a place to work.
This is supported by a Deloitte Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, which found Gen Zs and millennials to be deeply concerned about personal, social, and workplace balance.
“They struggle with financial concerns while trying to invest in environmentally sustainable choices. They feel burned out, but many are taking on second jobs while pushing for more purposeful – and more flexible work,” the survey noted. Census data show that Texas ranked third for net migration of college-educated workers.
“Everybody has their own way of doing research, and I completely disagree with that,” said Texan Eric Fuentas of CNBC’s annual study. “If you want to live in a state that has everything, Texas is your state,” he said.
With job openings outpacing employers’ ability to fill the positions, it will be up to hiring companies to add various QoL-related lures to attract skilled workers.
While Texas was hit with some tough rankings this year, those living in Mississippi might have it worse.
CNBC’s study ranked Mississippi last in its “Top States For Business” survey. While Mississippi outranks all other states in the lowest cost of living, the state’s workforce is statistically the nation’s “least productive” based on economic output per job. It also has the lowest concentration of science, technology, engineering, and math professionals.
In a tweet dismissing CNBC’s ranking as “nonsense,” Glenn Hamer, CEO of the Texas Association of Business, went on to say that Texas is among the fastest-growing states in the country, and is “winning the competition for jobs and people.”
CNBC’s study assessed states in 10 categories: Workforce, Infrastructure, Cost of Doing Business, Economy, Life-Health-Inclusion, Technology & Innovation, Business Friendliness, Education, Access To Capital, and Cost of Living. According to the survey, the “Workforce” category received extra weight due to labor shortages nationwide.
ed, where are these terrible roads, dirty water, etc? Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin? Try asking the democrats why they don’t fix those things instead of spending the money on psychotic policies that enable illegal behavior, illegal immigrations, etc. I am in dallas and the roads are so bad that you can lose animals in the holes, etc. Do you think they want to fix them or keep the money for their agendas. Remember, 9 out of 10 cases where there is money embezzled from cities and states all come from democratic reps.
Typical Republican response.
“Fake news!”
“Nonsense!”
“We never do anything wrong!”
“We’re perfect!”
Yet somehow they manage to convince people their continued love affair with big business (to the exclusion of anyone else) is worth voting for. They should be sued for bait and switch.
You do know every large city in Texas is Democratically ruled but then again facts don’t matter.
You don’t believe that there is ‘Fake News’ or are you saying only republicans state that? Either way, you are so off base already this is comical.
You have met republicans who claim perfection and never doing anything wrong? I want to see who that is. Because if you use Trump as an example, you have more problems. How many of the past allegations have been proven to be hoaxes or established by the clintons, etc?
This whole article is like a democratic talking point of the US is so terrible and who would want to live here… Yet here we are filled with illegal immigrants and MILLIONS of people trying to enter legally. Does it get tiring contradicting all of your talking points?
Last time I traveled to other states (last month), I didn’t see any restrictions on leaving Texas. If you don’t like it, vote with your feet as I did 30+ years ago when I came to Texas from my native Pennsylvania. Several things I miss, like real rivers (not creeks that are called rivers), hills (that would be called mountains here), and full basements but I’ve never been sorry I came to Texas.