New Mexico pays out $1B in unemployment benefits so far during virus pandemic
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Businesses might be slowly reopening their doors in New Mexico, but the number of residents collecting unemployment benefits has multiplied by fifteen since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
"You can see just by those numbers the magnitude of the change," said Secretary Bill McCamley of the Department of Workforce Solutions.
New Mexicans in the unemployment system:
(according to the Department of Workforce Solutions)
- March 15th: 9,600
- April 10th: 79,049
- May 24th: 154,049
- June 15th: 152,716
On Monday, McCamley told ABC-7 that the state surpassed $1 billion in unemployment benefit payouts since the pandemic began.
"Not a lot of people are hiring," said Las Cruces resident Michael Viera, who lost his El Paso job in March. "If they're hiring, they're prioritizing their people who got laid off first before, which makes sense."
Viera told ABC-7 it took longer than two weeks to start receiving his unemployment checks.
"Thankfully, I had a little bit saved just in case, but it was running very thin," Viera said. It was very frustrating, just picking and choosing when I'm gonna get groceries.... making sure I have enough money to pay rent."
McCamley told ABC-7 that keeping businesses closed for a longer period of time was worth saving New Mexican lives. He said if the state's unemployment fund runs out, New Mexico will borrow from the federal government.
"New Mexico has opened up more gradually than some of our neighboring states," McCamley said. "As you see some of the neighboring states and some of their coronavirus numbers creep up, you kinda see one of the risks involved in opening up too quickly."
