May 16, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE—While New Mexico’s Hispanics have a lower unemployment rate than Hispanics nationally, their rate is still more than double the unemployment rate for New Mexico’s non-Hispanic whites. This means that, well into a national recovery, nearly one in 12 Hispanic workers continues to be unemployed. Those are the findings of a report released today by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC.

“High unemployment rates for New Mexico’s Hispanics will have long-term consequences for the state’s children,” said Veronica C. García, Ed.D., Executive Director of New Mexico Voices for Children. “Almost half of all New Mexico children are Hispanic, and when their parents are struggling financially, the children suffer as well.”

Although the report, “Ongoing Joblessness in New Mexico,” notes that non-Hispanic whites have also been negatively impacted by the recession, the economic damage to the state’s Hispanics has been deeper and more prolonged. With New Mexico’s unemployment rate expected to rise by the end of this year, according to the report, the outlook is not good.

“This mirrors many of the conclusions in ‘The State of Working New Mexico 2013’ report that we just released,” said Gerry Bradley, Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst for NM Voices. “The wage gap between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites in New Mexico was beginning to close prior to the start of the recession. Now, the median hourly wage for whites is above $18, but it’s below $14 for Hispanics—so even those who are working are earning quite a bit less than their non-Hispanic white counterparts,” he added.

“Children simply cannot perform well in school when they don’t have financial stability at home,” said Dr. García. “The state needs a more targeted economic development plan than its current scattershot approach of unproven tax cuts for corporations, and it needs to ensure that support systems for families—such as unemployment insurance benefits and child care assistance—are adequate and functioning as they should,” she added.

You can download the report here: http://www.epi.org/publication/ongoing-joblessness-mexico-unemployment/

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New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project. 625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

 Download this press release (pdf)

May 14, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE—New Mexico has lost 42,700 jobs since the Great Recession began, but the state’s jobs deficit is more than double that number. That’s because the state should have added 58,300 jobs since the recession began just to keep pace with population growth. Taken together, those two numbers show that the state is short 101,000 jobs—more than the entire working populations of Las Cruces, Belen, Deming, Grants, Roswell, Española, and Farmington combined. The jobs deficit is one of the focus areas of the report “The State of Working New Mexico 2013,” released today by New Mexico Voices for Children.

By most indicators of worker well-being—employment, unemployment, workforce participation rates, and the like—New Mexico has yet to recover from the losses incurred since December 2007, when the recession began. While wages are higher than they were in 2000, median household income is still lower than it was before the recession began, and New Mexico has the second lowest median household income in the Mountain West region.

“When workers experience unemployment, their children suffer, and that suffering will have life-long consequences,” said Veronica C. García, Ed.D., Executive Director of NM Voices. “This report shows that the state’s economic development strategies need to be better targeted and any tax incentives must be tied to performance and stringent accountability. State leaders also need to be strengthening the safety net for vulnerable children,” she added.

The report points to the construction sector as the biggest loser in the recession—shedding almost one-third of its jobs. That’s higher than the national average of 23 percent. While construction is growing on the national level, New Mexico is still losing jobs on an over-the-year basis.

“New Mexico is simply not creating jobs at the pace it should be and that is cause for concern,” said Gerry Bradley, report author, and Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst for the child advocacy organization. “Our decades-long experiment with tax cuts as a way to create jobs has been a bust. Not only do we not have the new jobs that were promised, the tax cuts have led to less revenue for important services like education, health care, and public safety, which are vital to real economic development. That revenue shortfall has also contributed to our jobs deficit in both public- and private-sector industries,” he added.

“The report makes several policy recommendations to spur job creation and assist the unemployed and their families,” said Dr. García. Among the recommendations are: improving workforce educational levels by investing in early care and education programs that serve children from birth to age five; increasing the minimum wage statewide and indexing it so it keeps pace with inflation; and fully implementing the Affordable Care Act, which includes enrolling all eligible low-income adults in Medicaid.

The full report is available online at: http://www.nmvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/State-of-Working-NM-2013.pdf

The executive summary is available online at: http://www.nmvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/SWNM-2013-exec-sum.pdf

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New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project.

625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

 Download this press release here (pdf)

The odds it will create jobs are slim to none, but cost will be high

April 4, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE—The omnibus tax bill signed into law today will cost the state of New Mexico at least $100 million dollars by fiscal year 2017 and is not likely to create any jobs. That’s the conclusion of a report by New Mexico Voices for Children on HB-641, the bill that was haphazardly passed in the final minutes of the 2013 legislative session and signed into law today.

“HB-641 is bad for New Mexico,” said Veronica C García, Ed.D., Executive Director of New Mexico Voices for Children. “Giving tax breaks to corporations with no performance accountability attached to them will not serve the interests of New Mexico’s children and working families. These tax-cuts-for-jobs schemes are known to be ineffective at creating jobs and growing an economy that works for everyone.”

The most expensive provisions of HB-641 do not guarantee that companies will set up shop in New Mexico, and they give companies that are already here a tax break without requiring that they add a single job.

“What this bill does guarantee is that the state will have tens of millions of dollars less for education, public safety, and health care,” said Gerry Bradley, Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst for the child advocacy organization and author of the report. “Another provision in the bill will cost local governments $26 million by fiscal year 2017. Cities and counties will be either be forced to pass the cost along to working families, or cut services like fire and police protection,” he added.

“The signing of this bill—coupled with the Good Friday veto of a bill to raise the minimum wage—shows that out-of-state corporations are a higher priority with this administration than New Mexico’s own working families and their children,” said Dr. García. “New Mexico’s lowest-paid working families had their long-needed raise vetoed, while profitable corporations got big tax cuts. New Mexico’s lowest-income workers already pay a much higher percentage of their income in state and local taxes than those at the top, and this bill will make that inequity even worse.”

The report, “HB-641: Bad Bill, Flawed Process, Empty Promises,” is available online here: http://www.nmvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HB-641-policy-brief.pdf.

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 New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project.

625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

 Download this press release here (pdf)

Deep tax cuts of 2003 did not bring promised jobs

March 21, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE—Lawmakers cut the state’s top personal income tax rate in half in 2003 with the expectation that the big tax cut would draw companies to relocate their corporate headquarters here. That didn’t happen. Nor did the other five states that cut their personal income taxes in the last decade see any job growth as a result.

That’s the conclusion of a report released today by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Of the six states that enacted tax cuts in the 2000s, three experienced slower-than-average economic growth and three experienced faster-than-average growth. The three states with faster growth—New Mexico included—are oil and gas producers and their economic growth can be traced to a rapid rise in oil and gas prices in the mid-2000s.

The report also looks at states that cut personal income taxes in the 1990s. Those states experienced slower economic growth and fewer jobs created than states that did not cut taxes. The report cautions against embracing income tax cuts as a panacea for economic ills.

“This report further confirms what we’ve been seeing for the past 40 years—that trickle-down economics is a complete and utter failure,” said Bill Jordan, Senior Policy Advisor for New Mexico Voices for Children. “And yet, some lawmakers are still trying to push more tax breaks as a magical solution to our every problem.”

Jordan points out that the recently passed omnibus tax bill is another example of wishful thinking about tax cuts and job growth. “We have no guarantee that cutting corporate taxes will bring jobs, but we do know that these tax cuts will lead to underfunding our public services like education, a tax hike for working New Mexicans, or both,” he added.

The CBPP report is available at: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3936

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New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project.

625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

 Download this press release here (pdf)

State’s failure to invest in public universities and colleges will hurt economy

March 19, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE—No state has made deeper cuts than New Mexico to its investment in public universities and colleges.

New Mexico cut funding for higher education by $4,775 per student when adjusted for inflation—the largest spending drop in the nation—according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That’s a cut of 37 percent compared to the national average of 28 percent.

Cuts in spending have led to a 22 percent average increase in tuition at a public, four-year college in New Mexico since the start of the recession. Nationally, the average tuition increase was 27 percent. Driving up tuition will only make it harder for the state to attract businesses that rely on a well-educated workforce. 

“Business leaders have said over and over again that their companies need a well-educated workforce,” said Veronica C. García, Ed.D., executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children.  “Yet, New Mexico has chosen to cut investment in this area, and the resulting tuition increases have jeopardized the solvency of our Lottery Scholarship fund. Without the Lottery Scholarship too many young people in our state cannot afford to go to college. This is not the way to create a thriving economy,” she added.

When the recession hit in 2008 and tax revenue dropped, most states—including New Mexico—relied heavily on spending cuts rather than a more balanced mix of spending cuts and revenue increases. As a result, many states slashed funding for public colleges and universities. The price of attending a public college or university has grown significantly faster than the growth in median income in the U.S. over the last 20 years.

“More jobs in the future will require college-educated workers,” said Phil Oliff, policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of the report released today. “For the sake of its economy and future workforce, New Mexico should start reinvesting in its colleges and universities now.”

The report can be found at: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3927.

The center is hosting a media conference call today at 11am MDT. More information can be found at: http://www.cbpp.org/press/.

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 New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project.

625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

 Download this press release here (pdf)

Raise also needed to counteract NM’s income inequality, high poverty rate

February 14, 2013      

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE—An increase in the statewide minimum wage—from $7.50 to $8.50 an hour—would put $105 million in new wages into the hands of low-wage workers, who would spend the vast majority of it here in the state. That new spending would increase the state’s gross domestic product by $67 million and create 590 new jobs.

That’s the conclusion of a report by New Mexico Voices for Children that was released today at a minimum wage rally in Santa Fe. The report also advocates for indexing the state minimum wage so that it automatically increases with inflation.

“Raising and indexing the minimum wage would do a couple of things. First, it would help alleviate our high rate of poverty. Second, it would give the state a much-needed economic boost,” said Gerry Bradley, research director for NM Voices and report author. “Since 70 percent of our economy is based on consumer spending, one of the fastest ways to invigorate it is to put more money into the hands of the people most likely to spend it—those who are earning the lowest wages,” he added.

Bradley added that indexing the wage is an important step because it ensures that the wage doesn’t lose its purchasing power over time. “Just since New Mexico raised the minimum wage last—in 2009—it’s lost 10 percent of its value. That’s a loss of more than $1,000 a year for a full-time worker earning the minimum wage of $7.50 an hour. That’s $1,000 less to spend on groceries, diapers, rent, utilities, and other necessities,” he said. “And it will continue to lose value until we raise it again if it’s not indexed,” he added.

The full report is available online here: http://www.nmvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/state-min-wage-2013.pdf

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 New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project.

625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

 Download this press release here (pdf)

January 30, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE—New Mexico’s lowest-earning families pay state and local taxes at a rate more than double that of the highest-earning households. That’s according to the report, “Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of Tax Systems in All 50 States,” released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

As the table for New Mexico (attached) shows, the state’s households in the bottom fifth earning bracket pay 10.6 percent of their income on state and local taxes. Those in the top 1 percent pay just 4.8 percent of their income in those same taxes.

“New Mexico’s tax structure has become more regressive over the years, particularly since the income tax rate for the top bracket was cut in half in 2003,” said Gerry Bradley, Research Director for New Mexico Voices for Children. “Sales taxes have always fallen hardest on those with the lowest incomes because they must spend virtually all of their income on day-to-day necessities, where as those in the higher income brackets are able to set some aside in savings.”

In fact, sales and excise taxes show the largest rate gap—with the lowest 20 percent of households paying about seven times what the highest 1 percent pays. New Mexico has a gross receipts tax (GRT) rather than a traditional sales tax, but the amount is usually passed along to the customer, much like a sales tax.

“New Mexico used to have a fairly low, broadly based gross receipts tax and, coupled with a more progressive income tax structure, that made the overall system much more fair,” Bradley said. “But over the years we’ve enacted numerous exemptions, which meant raising the GRT rate to make up the difference.”

Two other recently released reports also paint a dismal picture of life for New Mexico’s low-wage workers: New Mexico has the highest income inequality in the nation, and the highest rate of working families who are low income.

“Given these reports, coupled with our anemic job growth, things aren’t likely to turn around for low-income families soon unless our lawmakers step up,” Bradley said. “The Legislature is considering a couple of bills that would help—raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation, and increasing the Working Families Tax Credit. Conversely, legislation to lower the corporate income tax rate or give a break to manufacturing companies and oil and gas producers will only make matters worse for working New Mexicans. Such proposals will not generate enough new jobs to make up for the lost revenue, so services like education, public safety, and health care will suffer,” he added.

The report can be downloaded here: http://www.itep.org/whopays/

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New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project.

625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

Download this press release here (pdf)

Download the New Mexico fact sheet here (pdf)

Annual Report Does Not Bode Well for State’s Future

January 15, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE— New Mexico Voices for Children released its annual New Mexico KIDS COUNT report today as part of Celebrating Children and Youth Day at the state Capitol.

The annual report tracks child well-being by providing data on important indicators such as child poverty, child maltreatment rates, math and reading proficiency, teen birth rates by race/ethnicity, and more. These data should be viewed within the larger context of the national KIDS COUNT data book, released last summer, in which New Mexico ranked 49th in the nation for child well-being.

“These data, coupled with our consistently low national ranking, serve as a reminder that New Mexico children deserve better,” said Dr. Veronica C. García, NM Voices’ Executive Director, who presented the report to the gathered audience. “News that child well-being continues to slip downward will hopefully spur New Mexico lawmakers to action. It’s time to do something differently so that we don’t get stuck at rock-bottom rankings for child poverty, teen births, teen alcohol and drug abuse, as well as high school drop-out rates,” she added.

“Many of the KIDS COUNT indicators are key predictors for New Mexico’s future economic, health, and education success of our children,” said Dr. García. “All of us in New Mexico want to see hopeful indicators. We want to be confident that our children are set on a successful path from cradle to career. KIDS COUNT is our annual check-up. This year’s prognosis sends a clear message that trends are going the wrong way, and they are not going to turn around by themselves. Policy makers have the ability to make children a priority and invest in services that will directly help children and youth get on a path to success.”

High-quality early learning services for children from birth to age five are proven to help children get a good start in life. Entering Kindergarten ready to learn is the best way to ensure that children will read proficiently at 4th grade, graduate high school on time, and be less involved in substance abuse. “Yet, in New Mexico, early childhood programs still reach a tiny percentage of our young children and receive less than 2 percent of the state budget,” said García. “Until we are willing to invest in the kinds of programs that will lead to a well-educated workforce, we will never attract the sort of 21st century jobs that will vastly improve our economy.”

The 2012 New Mexico Kids Count report is available online at http://www.nmvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/NMVC_2012DataBookFinal.pdf.

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KIDS COUNT is a program of New Mexico Voices for Children and is made possible by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities.
625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

Download this press release here (pdf)

MEDIA STATEMENT

January 9, 2013

ALBUQUERQUE—New Mexico Voices for Children’s executive director Dr. Veronica C. García released the following statement regarding Governor Martinez’s decision to expand Medicaid as provided for in the Affordable Care Act:

“The right decision was made today for New Mexico’s families, children, and economy. The Medicaid expansion will do much more than provide health coverage for some 150,000 low-income adults who currently have no insurance. Some 50,000 New Mexico children who are eligible for Medicaid have been allowed to fall through the cracks and are not enrolled. As low-income parents enroll for Medicaid under the new eligibility criteria beginning in 2014, their children will be enrolled in the state’s New MexiKids program.

“The Medicaid expansion will also be an economic boon to New Mexico. As our research—and the research of other respected organizations—has shown, this influx of federal money will create much-needed jobs and economic activity. Tax payers and the state will also save money because people will be able to get preventive treatment for illnesses instead of getting much more expensive treatment in the emergency room when they can no longer wait.

“In the light of this positive news, we urge New Mexico’s policy-makers to step up their work to put the other provisions of the Affordable Care Act into place—most importantly to create a health insurance exchange that is consumer friendly.”

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 New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our Medicaid work is funded by grants from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, First Focus, and Voices for America’s Children. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project.

625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

Download press release here (pdf)

New Mexico’s wealthiest fifth has almost ten times income of bottom fifth

PRESS RELEASE

November 15, 2012

ALBUQUERQUE—The income gap between New Mexico’s richest and poorest households is the widest in the nation, according to a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute. The average income of the top 20% of households is 9.9 times the average income of the bottom 20%.

“Inequality is strongly associated with poor health outcomes such as shortened life expectancy and teen pregnancy,” said Gerry Bradley, Research Director for New Mexico Voices for Children. “Extreme inequality is also associated with social ills such as low test scores and high dropout rates, violent crime, incarceration, and restricted social mobility. Looking at income inequality shines a light on why New Mexico performs so poorly by so many measures.”

A snapshot of how households at different income levels were doing in New Mexico as of the late 2000s (2008-2010, the most recent data available), provides a troubling picture of income inequality:

• The income of the richest fifth of households ($161,162, on average) was 9.9 times greater than that of the poorest (who earned $16,319, on average). For the nation as a whole, that number was 8. 
• Income gaps between New Mexico’s high- and middle-income households are also the largest in the nation: 3.2 times.
• The gap between the very richest and the poor is even larger:  the top 5% of New Mexico households had an average income 16.8 times that of the bottom 20%. 

The report, Pulling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends, released in New Mexico in coordination with NM Voices for Children, finds that our low- and moderate-income families did not share in the most recent economic expansion. Over the course of the last economic cycle, from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, the incomes of New Mexico’s richest fifth of households grew by 30.2% percent while those of New Mexico’s poorest fifth grew by just 7.4%.

“Underlying extreme inequality in New Mexico are serious problems in the state’s job market,” Bradley said. “New Mexico has an array of jobs: excellent jobs, good jobs, poor jobs, and no jobs. The excellent jobs are in the national labs and at Intel;  the good jobs are in health care, manufacturing, and education; the bad jobs are the poverty-level jobs in hotels, restaurants and call centers; and the ‘no jobs’ are because the demand for labor in New Mexico is very weak for workers with low levels of education. 

“New Mexico’s lawmakers need to enact policies that will narrow the income gap—such as raising the state’s minimum wage and indexing it to rise with inflation, and restoring unemployment insurance benefits,” Bradley said. “Fully implementing the Accordable Care Act—including the Medicaid expansion—will create much-needed jobs,” he added.

The joint CBPP/EPI report is available here: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3860. An infographic for New Mexico is attached separately as a pdf.

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New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project.

2340 Alamo SE, Suite 120, Albuquerque, NM 87106-3523; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org

Download press release here (pdf)