O'Malley vs Perry

Fact-Checking O'Malley and Perry

Texas Gov. Rick Perry visited Maryland last week after launching radio and TV ads celebrating his state's business acumen and criticizing Maryland and Gov. Martin O'Malley. The pair appeared on CNN's debate series "Crossfire."

The governors sounded like candidates on the stump, each firing off flattering facts about his own state. The one-upmanship could be an opening act from two men widely believed to have White House ambitions. Check the accuracy of their words here.

Capital News Service graphic by Marlena Chertock, text by Colleen Wilson and Lucy Westcott

O'Malley

"We have the No. 1 median income in the country." ✔: TRUE According to U.S. Census data, Maryland has the nation's highest median income -- $69,920 between 2010 and 2013, compared to the U.S. average of $51,017. Texas ranked 27th in median income at $50,920 during the same period, placing it below the national average.

According to a living-wage calculator created by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Maryland is the third most expensive state or district. An income high enough to sustain a normal standard of living for a family of four in Maryland would be $22.41 an hour and $18.70 an hour in Texas.
"The median wage for hourly workers in Maryland is $14.17." ✔: TRUE But this is misleading. Maryland's median wage for hourly workers is almost double the federal minimum wage of $7.25 and is above the national average of $12.08, according to a 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics report. The Texas median wage for hourly workers is $12.

However, O'Malley fails to place these wages in context with cost of living. Maryland's median wage falls $8.24 an hour short of the state's living-wage rate. Texas' median wage falls $6.70 an hour short. In 2012 in Maryland, 5 percent of hourly employees were paid at or below the minimum wage. In Texas, that figure was 7.5 percent.
"We've made our schools the No. 1 in America for the last five years." ✔: TRUE Since 2009 Maryland has led the U.S. in state investment, effective teachers and student preparedness for higher education, according to Education Week. Texas ranked No. 14 in 2013.
"We have the second-lowest poverty rate of any state in the nation." ✘: PARTLY TRUE A 2011 American Community Survey confirms the governor's claim, finding that 10 percent of Marylanders live at or below the poverty threshold. This figure is 18.5 percent in Texas, ranking it 40th. Nationally, 15.3 percent of Americans live at or below the poverty line.

The new Census' Supplemental Poverty Measure, which incorporates government aid and differences in cost of living, finds 13.6 percent of Maryland residents live below the poverty line, placing the state at No. 27. Texas is ranked No. 42 at 16.5 percent. The U.S. average is 15.8 percent.

Perry

"Apple is soon to be one of the largest employers in the city of Austin." ✘: PARTLY TRUE Perry's "soon" is actually 10 years. The City of Austin's Economic Development Division would not confirm that Apple will be one of its largest employers. Apple could not be reached for comment.

Apple employed 3,500 people in Austin as of May 2012, according to the Austin Business Journal. Over the next 10 years, Apple will add 3,600 jobs, according to a 2012 announcement from Perry's office, bringing its workforce to 7,100. According to data from the Austin Chamber, that would make Apple one of the 12 largest employers in the city.
"Ninety-five percent of all the wages in Texas are above minimum wage." ✘: PARTLY TRUE But only if looking at hourly-paid worker data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and comparing it to Texas' total workforce, hourly and salaried. Seven and a half percent, or 452,000, of the hourly workers in Texas earned minimum wage ($7.25) or less in 2012. In Maryland it was 5 percent, or 67,000.

Perry's office extrapolated those 452,000 workers from the 10,879,800 workers that make up the total Texas non-farm workforce, both hourly-paid and salaried. That leaves 4.2 percent earning at or below the minimum wage, meaning 95.8 percent earns above minimum wage, said a Perry spokeswoman.
"Thirty percent of jobs created in America were created in Texas from 2003-2013." ✔: TRUE Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show Texas created more than 1.75 million net new jobs from March 2003-March 2013. During the same time the U.S. created 5.3 million net new jobs. This equals roughly 33 percent of U.S. jobs.
"Texas created 18,200 jobs (in July 2013)." ✔: TRUE But Perry didn't specify these are private sector jobs. The public sector lost 5,223 jobs from June-July 2013.

The Texas Workforce Commission, a state agency, recently recalculated that 36,000 jobs were created in July 2013, which is a higher number than what Perry quoted on "Crossfire."

James Howard, Jr., an economist at the BLS Dallas Regional Office, confirmed, saying the final July 2013 were revised on September 20, putting the net increase in jobs from June-July 2013 at 30,800.