Earlier this week, GE announced plans to move 950 jobs from Erie, Pa. to Texas.  What is one of the key reasons Pennsylvania continues to lose jobs and population to states like Texas? Economic freedom.

The Mercatus Center's latest edition of Freedom in the 50 States underlines the problem hindering the opportunities available to Pennsylvanians.  The study ranks the Keystone State 31st overall on its freedom index.  The reasoning:

The state's ranking remains mediocre on fiscal policy. It has higher-than-average taxes but performs much better than most states on government spending and employment. However, it has high government debt and is not as fiscally decentralized as most states.

Not only are Pennsylvanians taxed too much, but we are neck deep in government debt. The analysis also scored our state below average in business regulations and tort abuse. 

Study after study finds that economic freedom results in higher quality of life. States with more economic freedom see higher rates of GDP growth, lower unemployment, and lower levels of state and local debt. Economic freedom also leads to higher incomes, less poverty, better environments, and even longer lives.

This short video from Duquesne University professor and CF Scholar Antony Davies underscores the benefits of economic freedom.

Critics, and likely election challengers, of Gov. Tom Corbett point to the singular fact that the state's unemployment rate is higher than the national average (though not significantly, nor significantly changed from last year). These critics claim this is the result of fiscal restraint in the last two state budgets. But focusing on this one data point ignores the broader economic trends found in the same Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

To begin with, the unemployment rate is determined by calculating the number of "unemployed"—those actively seeking work—by the total labor force (those with jobs plus unemployed). Thus the "unemployment rate" can rise if people lose jobs, or if more people enter the labor force by starting to look for work or move to a new state. The latter is the case in Pennsylvania—more people are entering the labor force, and most are getting jobs.

Here are some facts about Pennsylvania's growth:

Last year

• The number of employed persons grew by 143,537. Pennsylvania's growth rate was more than double the national average.
• Over the past year, Pennsylvania nearly matched the other 49 states combined in new labor force participants. PA's labor force growth rate was 17 times the growth in the other 49 states.

Last Two Years

• The number of employed persons grew by 165,997. Pennsylvania's growth rate was slightly higher than the national average.
• Pennsylvania's labor force growth rate was 4.5 times the growth in the other 49 states.

Corbett's Two Years vs. Rendell's Second Term

• Job growth (reported by employers, which differs somewhat from household survey data described above) was 91,100 over the past two years. From January 2007 to 2011, Pennsylvania lost 136,600 jobs.
  
• Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is down 0.1 percent since January 2011. It had grown 3.8 percent in the prior four years.

This trend shouldn't be surprising. The historical evidence demonstrates that government spending doesn't stimulate economic growth. Pennsylvania's jobs record demonstrates the old axiom that you can grow the economy or you can grow the government, but you can't grow both.