ARTICLE
State of the Local Economy This month has been a good one for the local Santa Fe economy. Presbyterian Hospital and Legacy at Aldea have broken ground on their new facilities and the Santa Fe City Council unanimously approved the St. Michaels Drive Overlay district which will vastly improve the usability of the area. These developments as well as the recent election are a good excuse to examine the local economy and see what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are as we look ahead. Traditionally, the single best measure of an economy’s health is employment. Santa Fe is healthier than most of New Mexico with an unemployment rate of about 5%. There are jobs available in many sectors – primarily healthcare, accommodation, retail and education. Building permits, population and business licenses are also ticking upwards. But there is more to the story with significant underemployment and a continuing lack of soft skills in the workforce. The Chamber’s A2D training program is designed to help improve customer service in the community. First our strengths – in addition to the Presbyterian and Legacy projects, the Morningstar facility, Pulte at Los Soleras, St. Francis South, Creative Santa Fe, Railyard apartments and Airport/Hwy 599 Santa Fe Village are in different phases of development. The Cerrillos Road improvements are almost completed and new small businesses are opening – particularly in the Siler Road area. The local film industry has never been stronger with productions scheduled through 2017. Also, we have local talent in many industries – technology, arts, graphics, food and drink, fashion, green industries, and design - that are producing energetic and ambitious entrepreneurs – this is evidenced by the recent BizMIX award winners. Adding to our economic backbone is the new initiative to collect GRT and Lodger’s Tax from short term rentals, which will certainly help Tourism’s Santa Fe’s marketing efforts and will level the playing field for other lodgers that have been generating and paying these taxes. The addition of a direct daily flight from Santa Fe to Phoenix on American Airlines starting on December 15th will bring visitors, businesspeople and others to Santa Fe more easily than ever. Our other economic strength is training capability. Santa Fe Community College, Youthworks, the Higher Education Center, SFUAD, and others are working hard to prepare our next generation of employees and contractors in many different sectors. These educational facilities have proven that they can create training programs to help grow the local workforce. However, our optimism at these new developments is tempered by some serious weaknesses in our economy. Primarily, the ongoing low quality of our emerging workforce. When less than 60% of our high school students graduate, and employers consistently complain about the lack of soft skill preparedness and high mandated minimum and training wages, this creates a climate where we have far too many young Santa Feans headed directly to jobs that offer little future. There are some very successful remediation programs but literacy, STEM skills, and plain old enthusiasm are in very short supply. The second huge economic weakness is the availability of housing that is affordable to working Santa Feans. Modest apartments and houses built for live/work and multi-generational families are in desperate short supply. Over half our workforce live out-of-town and as a result, spend their paychecks in other communities. This economic leakage accounts for millions of dollars of lost revenue and tax revenues. Your rent and taxes are higher because there aren’t enough homes for local working people to live in. A development that qualifies as both a strength and an opportunity is the upcoming retirement of over 2000 workers from Los Alamos National Lab. Of course, some of these jobs are high-end scientific technical positions but many are more accessible to high school/college grads and will pay very well. This turnover will impact the local economy and hopefully, the majority of positions will be filled by New Mexicans. Other economic opportunities include: new investors at Santa Fe University of Art and Design, the Creative Santa Fe Art + Creativity Center, projects centered around Meow Wolf, St Katherine’s School development, our active but aging demographic, NM School for the Arts and a consistent supply of new entrepreneurs with great ideas. Finally, there are some threats on the horizon. As I write this, post election analysis is dominating the news. Your vote will be critically important as we choose a new mayor and governor. In order to create prosperity and career opportunities, we MUST set aside partisan differences and agree to invest in our future through broadband and other infrastructure, as well as education and training programs for our future workforce. Regulatory obstacles continue to hamper small business growth. Local and regional leaders must focus on housing, education and infrastructure. If we want a strong diverse economy, it’s really that simple. simon@santafechamber.com
State of the Local Economy
This month has been a good one for the local Santa Fe economy. Presbyterian Hospital and Legacy at Aldea have broken ground on their new facilities and the Santa Fe City Council unanimously approved the St. Michaels Drive Overlay district which will vastly improve the usability of the area.
These developments as well as the recent election are a good excuse to examine the local economy and see what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are as we look ahead.
Traditionally, the single best measure of an economy’s health is employment. Santa Fe is healthier than most of New Mexico with an unemployment rate of about 5%. There are jobs available in many sectors – primarily healthcare, accommodation, retail and education. Building permits, population and business licenses are also ticking upwards. But there is more to the story with significant underemployment and a continuing lack of soft skills in the workforce. The Chamber’s A2D training program is designed to help improve customer service in the community.
First our strengths – in addition to the Presbyterian and Legacy projects, the Morningstar facility, Pulte at Los Soleras, St. Francis South, Creative Santa Fe, Railyard apartments and Airport/Hwy 599 Santa Fe Village are in different phases of development. The Cerrillos Road improvements are almost completed and new small businesses are opening – particularly in the Siler Road area.
The local film industry has never been stronger with productions scheduled through 2017. Also, we have local talent in many industries – technology, arts, graphics, food and drink, fashion, green industries, and design - that are producing energetic and ambitious entrepreneurs – this is evidenced by the recent BizMIX award winners.
Adding to our economic backbone is the new initiative to collect GRT and Lodger’s Tax from short term rentals, which will certainly help Tourism’s Santa Fe’s marketing efforts and will level the playing field for other lodgers that have been generating and paying these taxes. The addition of a direct daily flight from Santa Fe to Phoenix on American Airlines starting on December 15th will bring visitors, businesspeople and others to Santa Fe more easily than ever.
Our other economic strength is training capability. Santa Fe Community College, Youthworks, the Higher Education Center, SFUAD, and others are working hard to prepare our next generation of employees and contractors in many different sectors. These educational facilities have proven that they can create training programs to help grow the local workforce.
However, our optimism at these new developments is tempered by some serious weaknesses in our economy. Primarily, the ongoing low quality of our emerging workforce. When less than 60% of our high school students graduate, and employers consistently complain about the lack of soft skill preparedness and high mandated minimum and training wages, this creates a climate where we have far too many young Santa Feans headed directly to jobs that offer little future. There are some very successful remediation programs but literacy, STEM skills, and plain old enthusiasm are in very short supply. The second huge economic weakness is the availability of housing that is affordable to working Santa Feans. Modest apartments and houses built for live/work and multi-generational families are in desperate short supply. Over half our workforce live out-of-town and as a result, spend their paychecks in other communities. This economic leakage accounts for millions of dollars of lost revenue and tax revenues. Your rent and taxes are higher because there aren’t enough homes for local working people to live in.
A development that qualifies as both a strength and an opportunity is the upcoming retirement of over 2000 workers from Los Alamos National Lab. Of course, some of these jobs are high-end scientific technical positions but many are more accessible to high school/college grads and will pay very well. This turnover will impact the local economy and hopefully, the majority of positions will be filled by New Mexicans.
Other economic opportunities include: new investors at Santa Fe University of Art and Design, the Creative Santa Fe Art + Creativity Center, projects centered around Meow Wolf, St Katherine’s School development, our active but aging demographic, NM School for the Arts and a consistent supply of new entrepreneurs with great ideas.
Finally, there are some threats on the horizon. As I write this, post election analysis is dominating the news. Your vote will be critically important as we choose a new mayor and governor. In order to create prosperity and career opportunities, we MUST set aside partisan differences and agree to invest in our future through broadband and other infrastructure, as well as education and training programs for our future workforce. Regulatory obstacles continue to hamper small business growth. Local and regional leaders must focus on housing, education and infrastructure. If we want a strong diverse economy, it’s really that simple.
simon@santafechamber.com