COMMENTARY: New Mexico can routinely be found on the wrong end of most state rankings. However, we are certainly on the right end of one of them. According to a recent analysis of data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, New Mexico is currently leading all other U.S. states in job and wage gains since January 2017. We’ve added nearly 30,000 jobs since that month and our unemployment rate has fallen from 6.5 percent to 4.6 percent this past August.
Courtesy photo
George Sharpe
Surely our energy boom is one reason for our current perch at the top. Indeed, the average salary for a state resident working in the oil and gas industry is $71,505, about $20,000 more than the average salary across all of the state’s business sectors. In all, the oil and gas industry supports jobs for more than 100,000 residents.
The oil and natural gas industry has always been a critical component of New Mexico’s economy. Historically, the industry has contributed about a third of all the revenue collected by the state.
And recent growth in the industry has resulted in an unprecedented $1.2 billion projected surplus for the coming year.
The bottom line is that the state government is highly dependent on revenue from oil and gas to continue operating.
In addition, consumers and small businesses also have a stronger bottom line because of the low natural gas prices, making it cheaper to fuel homes, office buildings, and manufacturing plants.
Natural gas has also helped the United States as it tries to meet some very lofty clean energy goals. By transitioning to a resource that is 50 percent cleaner than coal and about 30 percent cleaner than oil, we’ve reduced greenhouse gas emissions at least 11 percent since 2005. Since then, our natural gas production has surged as much as 50 percent.
As much as the environmental activists decry oil and gas contributing to global warming, the reality is that the U.S. has done more than any other country when it comes to reducing emissions.
New Mexico families have waited a decade to recover from the Great Recession and now that relief is finally here. We’re incredibly lucky to have the wealth of energy resources we have in this state, and we should embrace them as drivers of our economy.
What do we need to stay ahead of other states in terms of wage and job growth? We simply need leaders in Santa Fe who appreciate the importance of maintaining a strong oil and gas industry.
George Sharpe of Farmington is an investment manager with Merrion Oil & Gas. Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here.