Wage + (Wage Plus), a City of La Cruces economic development incentive to reward businesses for hiring and paying above median wage, went into effect Monday, July 1. The program provides a $1,500 per job reimbursement for qualifying companies that hire and train new employees for jobs paying at least 10 percent more than the county median wage, which is currently $13.85.
To qualify for participation in Wage +, a company must manufacture a product, export non-retail services from the state or meet state green industry standards. The company must successfully complete the Job Incentive Training Program. The people they hire must have been New Mexico residents for at least one year in their lifetime.
According to Davin Lopez of MVEDA who helped develop the Wage + framework, “MVEDA was happy to assist Councilor Nathan Small in the development of a job creation tool such as Wage + which has the potential to make Las Cruces more competitive for business attraction and development. MVEDA has been promoting the Job Incentive Training Program (JTIP) program in Doña Ana County for a number of years and now combined with Wage + we have a tool that allows us to compete for higher paying jobs for our residents.”
Read the Las Cruces Bulletin article…
