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Governor keeps talking job growth
RIO RANCHO — Although New Mexico earlier this month lost a bid to attract Tesla Motors, Gov. Susana Martinez continues to focus on job growth.
Martinez has traversed New Mexico during the last few weeks to announce nearly 1,000 new jobs in places like Santa Fe, Los Lunas and Farmington.
Most recently Martinez was on hand Sept. 10 when Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull said S&P Data LCC will establish a call center in the city. A release from the governor’s office stated S&P Data will bring 425 new jobs to the city.
“New Mexico continues to make important strides in improving our business climate and becoming more competitive,” Martinez said. “As I keep saying, New Mexico is open for business.”
The governor, who has made the economy a cornerstone in her re-election campaign, also touted:
- manufacturing company Accurate adding 250 new jobs to Los Lunas , announced Aug. 27;
- process Equipment and Servicing Company in Farmington creating 150 manufacturing-related jobs, announced Aug. 28;
- and Santa Fe Brewing expanding its manufacturing and production facility with 105 jobs, announced Sept. 4.
Those companies feature some similar characteristics, said state Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela. They are great companies in the private sector, they pay employees well and offer benefits, and they put New Mexicans back to work.
New Mexico needs to grow an economy that is not dependent on the federal government, Barela said.
“The sun is rising on New Mexico’s private sector,” he said at the Rio Rancho event. “The governor has said many, many times that we need to move to a culture of self-reliance and diversification of our technology. “
In addition to the jobs declarations, Martinez attended a Sept. 2 groundbreaking ceremony for a new 16,000 square-foot primary care clinic in Albuquerque’s North Valley. The clinic will serve between 1,500 to 1,800 patients a month.
However, Martinez’ announcements could have been bigger.
The Rio Rancho announcement came after Nevada’s governor revealed Sept. 4 that a Tesla Motors facility will locate in his state. New Mexico was a finalist to land the $5 billion Tesla Gigafactory, according to media reports. California, Arizona and Texas were also in the hunt.
The facility could have brought thousands of jobs to New Mexico.
Martinez said in a web story published by KOAT TV in Albuquerque she thought the state made a competitive offer to Tesla.
“We were told by members of the Tesla team that our incentive package was so good, (they wanted to move New Mexico closer) to California because proximity was such a big deal to them,” Martinez said in the KOAT story. “Being closer to their plant in California was a big deal to them.”[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][share title=”Share this Post” facebook=”true” twitter=”true” google_plus=”true” linkedin=”true” pinterest=”true”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
