NM: State Job Training Funds to Help Fill Up To 545 New Jobs in New Mexico

The New Mexico Economic Development Department has released its job training funding awards – kicking off fiscal year 2024 with a record-breaking plan to fund training up to 545 trainees and 3 interns, Deputy Secretary Jon Clark announced after the monthly Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) meeting in July.

The JTIP Board approved five companies to receive assistance in training new employees and interns. Additionally, the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NM MEP) has received Step-Up Program funding to upskill 20 current employees.

This month marks the first time that companies are eligible to receive up to 90% of training costs, up from 75% in previous fiscal years. While base reimbursement remains at 50-75%, jobs can qualify for additional 5% (not to exceed 15% higher than base) if they are high-wage positions, are Veterans, have graduated from a New Mexico institution of higher education, and/or are located in rural or frontier communities.

“JTIP is renowned nationally as a great tool to help create jobs and allow local businesses to train new employees, and this month’s total of a potential 545 trainees is a huge step for New Mexico to advance the skills of our workforce,” Jon Clark reported.

This month’s record allotment is due to Intel Corp’s plan to train up to 480 new employees. In conjunction with the New Mexico Economic Development Department and the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, Intel recently announced a MEGA Hiring Event to take place on July 28 at from 9am to 4pm at the Rio Rancho Event Center, located at 3001 Civic Center Circle NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144.

The six high-tech companies eligible to receive up to a total of $6,375,208.08 in reimbursements are:

BlueHalo LLC, Albuquerque, 14 trainees at an average wage of $54.29 for a total award of $436,470. BlueHalo is a rapidly expanding national security platform with capabilities spanning space superiority, directed energy, missile defense, C4ISR, cyber, and intelligence. The BlueHalo offices in New Mexico have expanded R&D as well as systems engineering services in support of space superiority, directed energy, and advanced space technologies.

Emerging Technology Ventures, Inc. (ETV), Alamogordo, 4 trainees at an average wage of $27 and 3 interns at an average wage of $21. Total amount approved is $121,452. ETV focuses on the development of cross-cutting autonomous systems technology startups in applications including precision agriculture, critical infrastructure protection, public safety, and environmental management.

Intel Corporation, Rio Rancho, 480 trainees at an average wage of $30.75 for a total award of $4,957,100. Intel has operated in Rio Rancho since 1980 as the company's innovation hub. Intel directly employs more than 2,000 employees in New Mexico, and the site manufactures technology that is advancing Intel innovation in packaging and interconnect to Intel's next era of computing.

New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), Albuquerque, Step-Up funding for up to 20 current employees for a total award of $43,650. New Mexico MEP is a nonprofit organization that assists small and medium-sized manufacturers in the state of New Mexico. MEP will provide NM ISO Internal Auditor Certification Training to twenty companies, specific to the development of an internal auditor and audit team for the company’s ISO 9000 quality management and quality assurance program.

The Boeing Company, Albuquerque, 20 trainees at an average wage of $59.90 for a total award of $676,130.52. Boeing's Laser & Electro-Optical Systems (LEOS) business unit is headquartered in Albuquerque. LEOS programs consist of government contracts, internal research and development (IR&D) projects, and Boeing internal work transactions supporting other business units around the company; encompassing design and development, rapid prototyping, and system integration of LEOS products.

TS-Nano, Inc., Albuquerque, 7 trainees at an average wage of $35.58 for a total award of $140,405.56. TS-Nano is an ESG company that manufactures monitoring systems for gas emitting oil well bores and nano-modified polymer sealants. They apply these in the field to monitor and seal orphaned, abandoned, and operating oil wellbores in New Mexico that leak methane gas.