The Associated Builders and Contractors‘ new “Merit Shop Scorecard” just came out and the news is not particularly good for New Mexico. The 2015 placed us dead last (51 out of 51, behind the District of Columbia). We’ve moved up this year, but only to 50th (we beat out Illinois).
See a map illustrating the results below:
Among the ways New Mexico laws fall short are lack of “right to work” and having a “prevailing wage” mandate. Unfortunately, recent changes to New Mexico’s Legislature make it unlikely that anything will be done to address those two issues.
Not surprisingly, New Mexico’s construction industry suffers from the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation. The “good” news is that nearby Colorado has the lowest construction unemployment rate in the nation.
So we keep the Party in charge of our laws and regulations that ensure we stay at the bottom of everything?
The economy works fine for union officials and the legislators they subsidize. Has anyone followed the money on this issue? How much do unions collect in mandatory dues from New Mexico workers? How much do unions (and union-backed PACs) contribute to legislators, and which legislators take union money?
Mayhap we could expand RailRunner to Denver and environs, so construction workers can relocate to where the jobs are. Perhaps they could keep the train there; we could save money by not running it.
I think if Colorado keeps voting Democrat and smoking the wacky weed, it will soon start showing signs of looking more like NM. Just saying. Of course, NM is a total loss and nothing will change because of the progressives. Go figure.