Economic Security and Prosperity
The economy should work for everyone, not just a select few. But for New Mexicans who lack job skills and education, and work in low-wage jobs with little hope for advancement, economic security is just a dream. Long-term economic prosperity involves promoting economic and workforce development opportunities for all New Mexicans, as well as supporting access to adequate wage and work supports for those in crisis and those who are unable to work.
Featured Content
New Mexico’s Working Families Tax Credit and the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit
Tax credits for low- and moderate-income working families are a common-sense way to spur economic activity by putting money into the hands of consumers who will spend it. They also are an effective way to lift working families out of poverty. These are just some of the reasons New Mexico should increase its Working Families Tax Credit.
Improving College Affordability to Support New Mexico’s Education, Workforce, and Economic Goals
New Mexico is a poor state, yet little of our state-based financial aid goes to students who can’t attend college without monetary assistance. This report looks at the state’s financial aid structure — how much money is awarded and where it goes — and makes recommendations for policies to improve financial aid that’s awarded on the basis of need. (A Working Poor Families Project report)
Investing in a Healthier New Mexico: The Economic and Fiscal Benefits of the Medicaid Expansion in New Mexico
The Medicaid expansion, as part of the Affordable Care Act, has been very good for New Mexico. Not only are tens of thousands of New Mexicans able to access health care, the program has brought billions into the state that has created thousands of jobs, economic activity, and tax revenue. (Report)
Recent Publications
Valuing Families at Work
Report New Mexicans are working hard every day to provide a brighter future for their families and our state. When they or their child gets sick, they should be able to take care of themselves or their family with the assurance that they won’t lose wages or risk their livelihood to do so.
Policy, Advocacy, and Child Well-being in New Mexico
Presentation Most people do not associate taxes with health, but there is a definite connection -- and it goes beyond raising enough revenue to pay for health care programs like Medicaid. What we tax, who pays the most, and who benefits are all aspects that impact a family's financial security, which in turn, impacts where they can live, what kind of food they can afford to purchase, and more.
Recent Blog Posts
Advancing Equity in New Mexico: Family Economic Security
Several bills were passed during the 2019 legislative session that should improve family economic security. Because these bills were targeted to help families earning low and moderate incomes – and because workers of color and women are disproportionately represented in those wage groups – the bills should also improve equity by helping to ensure that we all have access to the opportunities that help us reach our potential.
Advancing Equity in New Mexico: Immigration
Given New Mexico’s substantial immigrant population and that group’s important contributions to our state – which includes paying taxes – it is essential that we enact policies that promote opportunity for all families. During the 2019 New Mexico legislative session, lawmakers passed several bills that will have broad benefits to immigrants, their families, and the state as a whole.
Recent News Coverage
More parents will get help with child care under CYFD proposal
“It’s fantastic. It’s a really significant step forward for child care assistance in New Mexico,” said Amber Wallin, New Mexico director for the annual Kids Count report on child wellbeing.
New Mexico Legislators Unite Over Methane Pollution
He adds that jobs designed to capture wasted methane also would enhance the state's economy. "We've seen, for example, in states like Colorado that have enacted commonsense methane-capture regulations, that the industry can adapt and it can be part of growing the economy," he points out.
Current Initiatives
Working Poor Families Project (WPFP) is a national initiative focused on strengthening state workforce development policies as a way of reducing poverty for working families. One way to address poverty among working Americans is with so-called ‘work supports,’ which help stabilize low-wage workers while assisting their climb up the job ladder. Work supports include child care assistance, health care coverage, funding for adult basic education and community college attendance, and unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.
Fiscal Policy Project, our program focusing on tax and budget policy, also covers work supports and wage issues.
Resources
A Basic Family Budget Calculator is an important tool in determining if a family lives in poverty, because the system currently in place to do that is completely outdated.
Federal poverty guidelines, which dictate whether a family is eligible to receive assistance such as Medicaid and Food Stamps, are tied to a formula that was created in the 1960s. It was based on what the typical family spent on groceries because that was a family’s biggest expense at the time. Today, necessities like housing, childcare and health care take up a far greater share of most family incomes than groceries. Not only do the guidelines not take these changes into account, they do not take into account regional differences in the cost of living.
Because the federal guidelines are so inaccurate, families are generally considered low-income when they earn up to twice (or 200 percent) the poverty level. This makes up for some shortfalls in the guidelines, but they are still nowhere near as accurate as a Basic Family Budget.
- Click here to find out the minimum amount families need to earn in order to live at a basic, no-frills level in New Mexico’s cities and counties