MLG takes full credit for NM’s lackluster jobs numbers trailing most states
On Friday, Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham erroneously claimed her far-left “policies” were leading to job growth in the state — with a heavy spin.
She claimed that because of her, the state is now seeing the highest number of jobs in its history.”
She wrote, in a press release, “The robust job growth in New Mexico is proof positive that we are enacting all the right policies to grow our economy,” adding, “We are paying people a livable wage, providing child care for working parents, and making it easier for employers to find prepared candidates by putting more people through college and technical training.”
Ironically, the press release admits that the state’s multi-billion-dollar taxpayer-funded “free” daycare is, indeed, “child care” — not the “Pre-K” that she previously claimed.
The higher minimum wage has resulted in a higher cost of living in New Mexico, especially in more urban areas where rents and mortgages have ballooned to levels working-class citizens cannot afford. Her taxpayer-funded “free” college programs is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
In the statement, she pointed to the fact that there were 869,400 jobs in New Mexico, which she says is the highest in history.
However, according to historical data, jobs had increased in New Mexico for decades, including a high of 863,400 during the Donald Trump administration in January 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic, when Lujan Grisham locked down the state and plunged the number of available jobs to 758,100 in May of 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
During this extreme plunge during the Lujan Grisham lockdown, the unemployment rate ballooned to a massive ten percent, with it leading the nation during many months of her shutdown. She forced 40 percent of all small businesses in the state to close their doors due to her pandemic-era edicts, according to her own New Mexico Department of Tourism.
Also, during the Trump administration, the labor force participation rate was a healthy 58.1 in 2019 and 2020 (right at the start of Lujan Grisham’s tenure in January 2019), while now (with supposedly 869,400 jobs available), it sits at only 56.9.
At 3.5 percent, New Mexico’s unemployment rate sits as the 34th-lowest out of all 50 states.
Weak-on-crime policies by Lujan Grisham and her leftist allies in the Legislature have forced businesses to close due to shoplifting and unsafe environments for both patrons and employees.
“The economic policies of Gov. Lujan Grisham and this administration are working,” claimed Economic Development Department Cabinet Secretary Alicia J. Keyes.
“Gov. Lujan Grisham’s administration is not only growing our economy at a historic pace, but making the investments in higher education and career training we need to ensure that New Mexicans are ready to enter these high-skill, family-sustaining jobs,” chimed in Higher Education Department Secretary Stephanie M. Rodriguez.
Despite New Mexico’s employment failures under her administration, Lujan Grisham’s appointed cabinet secretaries are singing her praises, claiming she alone is responsible for any uptick in economic vitality in the state beleaguered by her failed far-left policies.
