George and Weezie Jefferson may have been movin’ on up but, judging from a report compiled by United Van Lines, a lot of people have been movin’ on out of New Mexico.
The moving company turns out an annual report of what’s called “in-migration” (the estimate of people moving into a given state) and “out-migration” (those moving out) and New Mexico was the only western state and only Sun Belt state in 2012 that finished in the top 10 among states reporting more people moving out than moving in:
| State | % of outbound moves | |||
| 1 | New Jersey | 62.3% | ||
| 2 | Illinois | 59.5% | ||
| 3 | West Virgina | 57.9% | ||
| 4 | New York | 57.7% | ||
| 5 | New Mexico | 57.6% | ||
| 6 | Michigan | 57.5% | ||
| 7 | Connecticut | 56.0% | ||
| 8 | Maine | 55.8% | ||
| 9 | Kentucky | 55.3% | ||
| 10 | Wisconsin | 55.0% | ||
When asked about the report on Monday (Feb. 11), Gov. Susana Martinez said it was another example of how the Legislature should adopt a pro-business agenda for the state:
“What we have to do is No. 1, become more competitive with our surrounding states at a bare minimu. This is a national economy, a worldwide economy. Businesses and families can do anywhere they want in the world. They want to go to the places with the best education for their children, where they can grow for their business.
“Are we competitive with our tax structure? Or our we so high and so costly and have such a poor education system that they don’t want to live here? We can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and over-taxing businesses that they can’t keep their doors open and they move and they’re taking their families with them. We’re moving up in our education system and we need to keep going forward with reform and we need to make sure our small businesses have a tax structure they can live with so businesses start coming here instead of moving away.”
The Democratic Party of New Mexico pointed the finger at Gov. Martinez and Republicans, with its chairman Javier Gonzales saying in a statement:
“Governor Martinez and Albuquerue Mayor RJ Berry have fallen asleep at the wheel when it comes to creating jobs for New Mexicans. Susana is focused on her national image and not dealing with job crisis here in New Mexico. In Albuquerque, property crime is up and over 4,000 jobs have been lost under Berry.
They campaigned on creating jobs for NM, instead New Mexico and Albuquerque keep ending up on all the wrong lists. People are giving up hope and literally fleeing the state. Plain and simple, our Governor and Mayor have failed New Mexico families and it is time for them to go.”
You can read some of the details of the report here and see the story on Forbes.com here.
