SENATE MEMORIAL 29

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2012

INTRODUCED BY

Linda M. Lopez

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR THE NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN RECEIVING JOB TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT SERVICES PROVIDED BY FEDERAL OR STATE PROGRAMS.

     WHEREAS, women comprise approximately one-half of the wage and salary employment in the United States; and

     WHEREAS, close to sixty-five percent of New Mexico mothers are in the labor force; and

     WHEREAS, one-third of married families in New Mexico have both the husband and wife working to provide support for their families; and

     WHEREAS, at least two-thirds of women with children under six years of age are in the labor force in New Mexico, and the fraction increases to more than three-fourths of women when children are between ages six and seventeen; and

     WHEREAS, women who work full-time in New Mexico are still earning an average of seventy-seven percent of their male counterparts, indicating that there is still a persistent gender gap in earnings between women and men; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico ranked thirty-ninth among all the states in median earnings for full-time female workers who were employed year-round; and

     WHEREAS, workshops and employment training geared toward women have been offered in the past, and that training has allowed women to obtain additional job skills and career development that prepare women for jobs with higher pay and expanded opportunities; and

     WHEREAS, the women's bureau of the United States department of labor has been working for ninety years to empower all working women to achieve economic security by preparing women for high-paying jobs, ensuring fair and equitable compensation, promoting workplace flexibility and helping homeless female veterans to reintegrate into the work force; and

     WHEREAS, women, especially displaced homemakers, are considered under the federal Workforce Investment Act to be dislocated workers and, therefore, are identified as a target population under that act; and

     WHEREAS, the goals of the women's bureau of the United States department of labor should correspond closely with the goals of the state workforce solutions department as it works to help women advance toward an equitable and secure future in the workplace;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the workforce solutions department be requested to keep data on the number and demographics of women receiving job training, career development and other services in New Mexico from state and federal programs and calculate the percentage of women served by those programs; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that data compiled on women who receive job training, career development and other services in New Mexico be analyzed and reported to the interim legislative health and human services committee and any other appropriate interim committee by November of each year; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the workforce solutions department coordinate closely with the women's bureau of the United States department of labor to provide services to women in the work force, especially to dislocated workers and other target populations, to ensure that services are provided and that both duplication of services and gaps in services do not arise and that a systematic information exchange between the workforce solutions department and the women's bureau of the United States department of labor be established and maintained; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of workforce solutions, the secretary of human services and the chair of the interim legislative health and human services committee.

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