Economic Opportunity

With nearly 1 in 5 New Mexicans living in poverty and with the third highest poverty rate in the country, it was clear that this was an important metric to target. Poverty exists when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs like food, clothing and shelter. Poverty is incredibly complicated and its root cause cannot simply be traced to a single source. Living in poverty leads to generational disadvantages and can significantly affect things like a child’s education. Poverty has a ripple effect and undermines the quality of life for everyone in an economy, not just the poor.  We plan to target legislation that will help improve poverty in New Mexico.

The labor force participation is the percentage of state residents age 16 and older who are participating in the labor force. New Mexico is ranked 2nd worst in the nation in this category and it’s clear we have a lot to improve as this metric is used to gauge the health of our state’s economy. The effects of having low labor force participation can stretch beyond our economy and can even lead to social consequences, like crime.

This is one area where New Mexico is doing fairly well, ranking 24^th best nationally. Cost of living is a big attraction for many folks to move to our state. We want to make sure we’re doing the right things to keep the cost of living down in order to keep New Mexico a desirable place to live.

Median household income measures the income distribution into two equal parts – half having income above that amount and half having income below that amount.  In New Mexico, we have the 45^th lowest at $48,451 in 2016 according to Kaiser Family Foundation. Our state has a diverse group of people living here and this metric will allow us to measure what the average person is making in our state.