Help Wanted: Houstonians Want Government to Get Them Jobs

The classic American (and Texan) spirit of self reliance, personal responsibility, and independence has apparently gone out the window in modern day Houston. A new study from Rice University’s Kinder Institute finds 88% of Houston residents agree that government should help them get a job, and 81% believe government should help reduce “economic inequality.” Those numbers are a stark increase from 15 years ago, when 65% thought government should help get jobs and just 48% thought government should reduce economic inequality.

Several factors could be responsible for this rise in government reliance. For starters, more Americans are now on government aid than ever before. Houston’s demographics are also changing, with the city moving more to the left as conservatives leave for the suburbs. Financial planner Mitch Kramer believes the new generation of job seekers is more dependent because our education system has not properly prepared them for the workforce. “A lot of college programs today that are not STEM are creating kids that graduate who don’t have a useful skill set,” Kramer tells KTRH. “I mean, gender studies? How does that increase top line revenue for a company? It doesn’t, but that’s a four-year degree that maybe costs somebody 200,000 or 250,000 dollars.”

Ultimately, returning to an independence mindset will take another generational effort. “People need to understand that they’re going to be much happier if they focus on self reliance versus relying on someone else, and they’ll be able to control their destiny much more than somebody else can,” says Kramer. “And self reliance needs to be taught at home.”