COMMENTARY: For the last eight years, Susana Martinez’s “plan” for job creation was simple. Step 1: Give the ultra-wealthy and out-of-state corporations huge tax giveaways. Step 2: Pray.
Unfortunately, this faith based strategy isn’t working. New Mexico ranks second worst nationally for unemployment. We are near bottom in both hourly wages and overall income. We’re the only regional state where more people move out than in as young people find better jobs in places like Colorado.
Courtesy photo
Bill McCamley
But we can change, and if you want more and better jobs, the choice for a new governor is crystal clear. Michelle Lujan Grisham offers a real and effective path to a 21st Century economy, while Steve Pearce will continue Susana’s failures.
Listening to business and economic developers across the state, legislators hear three major things that must be improved to create jobs.
First, there is a huge gap in skills our workers have compared to available jobs. Michelle will address the problem by increasing apprenticeship programs; growing education efforts in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM); and aligning community college classes with job needs so students who want to make great money by becoming electricians, welders or medical technicians can get the skills they need.
Modern jobs also require more internet accessibility. Michelle has a history of supporting broadband deployment in Congress and will work to make sure every school, home and business has access to quality internet service.
We furthermore know that financing for startups in the technology and agriculture sectors is hard to get. Michelle will use more revenue from our $24 billion permanent funds to invest in businesses that want to start and grow here because she recognizes that investing in our people, not just Wall Street banks, is better for everyone.
All of these are detailed in a job creation plan on her website. Steve Pearce? He’s got no plan.
Michelle wants to raise the minimum wage immediately to $10 per hour, increasing to $12 within four years. This creates local jobs, because workers spend more money on things like fixing their cars and buying school supplies when they’ve got a little extra in their pockets.
Pearce? He voted against raising the minimum wage in Congress in 2007 and 2013. Instead he voted for Trump’s tax giveaway last year, where research shows huge corporations spent 37 times more buying their own stock as they did on bonuses and wage increases for workers.
Favoring CEOs and Wall St bankers over workers hasn’t worked for New Mexicans under Susana, and it will only get worse under Pearce.
Trade with Mexico created more than 8,000 New Mexican jobs between 2009 and 2014. Michelle recognizes the potential here, and will grow port facilities on our southern border and increase marketing and relationships with leaders in Mexico to create even more jobs. Pearce? He has a 94.6 percent voting record with Donald Trump, a man who announced his presidential campaign by calling Mexicans rapists and murderers. That’s not the sort of thing that will encourage them to work with us.
Michelle also knows that our amazing TV and movie industry creates great jobs both directly and through increased tourism. That is why she has committed to remove the cap on our film incentive program. Pearce? He refuses to commit to one of the most proven employment opportunity strategies in New Mexico’s history.
We need a fresh start. For more jobs and better wages, Michelle Lujan Grisham is the obvious choice for governor this November. We should vote for her.
Bill McCamley, a Democrat, chairs the Labor and Economic Development Committee in the N.M. House of Representatives, where he represents the Las Cruces-area District 33. Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here.