Governor Bill Richardson Announces More Than 10,000 New Mexicans Employed By Recovery Act in 2009

Press Release

Governor Bill Richardson today announced that 10,221 New Mexicans received full or part-time work through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, as a result of stimulus spending by state government.

"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has definitely had a positive impact on New Mexico's economy," Governor Richardson said. "This is just a snapshot of stimulus spending in New Mexico, but it's clear that thousands of people have work and hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing throughout the economy. The impact has been felt in every county in the state, and in both urban and rural New Mexico."

New Mexico recently filed its second quarterly reports with the federal Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which covers Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2009. The reports show during that time frame, 7,372 people were paid part-time or full-time with New Mexico federal stimulus dollars. This converts to 2,959 full-time equivalent jobs according to the new federal formula for this quarter.

"The Recovery Act is a tremendous investment in New Mexico," former Governor Toney Anaya said. Anaya heads the New Mexico Office of Recovery and Reinvestment, which is charged with making sure stimulus funds to state agencies are distributed quickly and are properly accounted for. "New Mexico will receive major support for public schools, transportation and other infrastructure projects, healthcare for the poor and scientific research, among other priorities funded by the Recovery Act."

These jobs are located all over the state, primarily in public schools and on transportation projects. Jobs have been funded in law enforcement, healthcare, social services and other areas as well.

The jobs report only represents a portion of the jobs created by Recovery Act funds coming into New Mexico since not all stimulus funds flow through state government and not all stimulus spending is subject to the jobs reporting. The jobs report is preliminary. Numbers could change based on input from federal agencies that review the reports

New Mexico is expected to receive more than $3.4 billion in stimulus awards over the life of the Recovery Act. Of that, roughly $2.1 billion is expected to flow through state government. The rest will flow from the federal government directly to cities, towns and tribes or will be spent by federal agencies on projects in New Mexico.

Visit www.recovery.state.nm.us for more information.

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