Presidential candidate Rick Perry’s governorship is now under the nation’s microscope, which means the whole state is under the same microscope.

That’s a familiar feeling for Texas. It wasn’t that long ago that reporters flocked here because George W. Bush was on the national ballot. Add in the country’s fascination with the Lone Star State, and we’re in for another earful of the supposed Texas story.

Depending on which source you are reading, the state’s economic picture ranges from the “Texas miracle” to the “Texas mirage.”

Most of us know that neither is the case; reality is somewhere in between. The biggest bragging statistic is the pace of job creation since the economic freefall. In June, the 24-month net job increase in Texas — 261,700 — accounted for nearly half the net increase in the entire nation, according to the Dallas Fed.

In unemployment, Texas (8.2 percent jobless rate in June) was second-best to New York (8.0 percent) among the five biggest states, but no one there talks about a “New York miracle.” That’s still reserved for the Mets’ World Series victory in 1969.

Meanwhile, drive out of Texas into any adjoining state and you’ll find lower unemployment there, too. Our neighbor to the north, Oklahoma, wins the Red River rivalry by nearly 3 percentage points.

The thicket of statistics goes on for as long as does the debate over who should get credit for Texas’ employment record.

One thing is clear: Texas remains a career destination, owing in part to cultivation of a low-cost, business-friendly environment. Texas skeptics/Perry critics are prone to credit only the dumb luck of having gas and oil under our ground, a central location, port cities and ready labor from Mexico.

All true, but an entrepreneurial state must have the zeal to make the most of its advantages. No argument that Perry is the head cheerleader; credit him for that.

But there is a wider set of categories in which no one presumes to see Texas miracles. Those have to do with social issues such as Texas’ high rate of people without health insurance, high levels of poverty and lagging education levels.

For example, of the five most populous states, Texas had the highest poverty rate in the 2009 census update, with 15.5 percent of residents below the income threshold.

These are not proud statistics, and it’s closer to a miracle that Texas remains a vibrant growth state in spite of them. Job creation has not put a dent into some of our most stubborn problems, which are destined to get worse without a greater sense of urgency.

We will hear these themes repeatedly from others while Perry shares the national political stage. Texans should welcome the assessments from outsiders, not resent them. We could hear things that will make us stronger.