New Mexico outspends most states on benefits, but struggles to find residents jobs, report says

The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions administers the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs, which are meant to provide short-term relief for families who struggle financially. It operates two services for residents seeking job placement: Career Link, which matches New Mexicans with private employers to work 20 hours each week; and Wage Subsidy, which places New Mexicans in government agencies for 40 hours a week for up to a year.

The problem, Legislative Finance Committee analysts told state lawmakers Tuesday, is that jobs often pay too little and don’t last long enough to help participants regain their independence.

Nationally and in New Mexico, a similar proportion of people receive TANF. Nationally, one in 165 people participate, while in New Mexico about one in every 124 do. However, job placements nationally far outpace those in New Mexico. Nationally, one in four recipients are employed, while in New Mexico it’s just one in 11, according to the analysts’ presentation.

“It is not just about finding these individuals work. It is about finding these individuals high-income work so they can sustain themselves,” Allegra Hernandez, LFC’s senior fiscal analyst, told the interim Legislative Health and Human Services Committee and Federal Funding Stabilization and Affordability Subcommittee during a joint meeting in Gallup.

Hernandez pointed to programs in California and Washington, where assistance programs also include childcare and transportation assistance and access to housing and health services, as examples to emulate.

A key metric in evaluating TANF’s success, Hernandez said, is whether recipients are forced out of the program because they earn too high of a salary at a job they found through one of its programs. LFC has set a target of 38%, meaning more than one in three people will stop receiving TANF aid because they’ve found a high-paying job.

The most recently available data shows that New Mexico is sitting at just 8%, Hernandez said.

The temporary assistance is limited to families who make less than 85% of the federal poverty level. A family of three has a maximum income of $22,656 to earn an additional $6,600 in aid, according to the LFC presentation.

High wages are key to keeping people in the workforce long-term, she said, citing an MIT Living Wage Calculator report that found a single mother with two children in New Mexico needs to make $49.62 an hour to make a living wage.

Some lawmakers, including Sen. Linda López (D-Albuquerque), questioned whether the financial assistance is enough for the families who need it most. 

“A lot of the implementation, to me, is very punitive and really not helping our families that need guidance and need help in finding sustainable employment,” she said. “For those who are trying to make ends meet, to earn $22,000 a year at a job and you get $6,000 extra, I think sometimes you look at the balance of it. Is it worth your effort to even go through all that rigamarole?”