New Mexico’s workforce participation rate remains below pre-COVD levels

As of August of 2025 New Mexico’s workforce participation rate, as tracked by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is 57.4 percent.  That’s the last number we have due to the federal shutdown.

Notably, in February 2020, right before the COVID shutdowns, New Mexico was at 58.1 percent. New Mexico has long suffered from abysmally-low workforce participation. The State remains at the very bottom nationwide. What our Gov. and Legislature want to avoid discussing is how programs like SNAP and Medicaid (which New Mexico is the MOST dependent on among all US states) encourage people to NOT work.

But, for New Mexico to not even be able to achieve the levels of workforce participation that were seen at the onset of COVID-19 is problematic. Getting more New Mexicans off welfare and into jobs should be a goal of ALL New Mexicans.