STATEMENT FROM CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN GREG BLAIR: "It's sad that people who are more focused on scoring points than solving problems would try to distort Steve Pearce's story of hard work and humble beginnings. The Pearce family started out with nothing and worked hard to lift themselves out of the depths of poverty. Steve Pearce embraced his parents' work ethic and got his first job when he was nine years old. Steve is a New Mexico success story. Instead of waging tired political attacks, these naysayers should join the conversation about how to attack poverty at its roots and create opportunities so we can put more New Mexicans to work and help create better lives for our families."
CLAIM: "It looks like his father and mother struggled but in reality in 1947 (when Pearce was born) that wage of $2.62 in 1947 would be equal to $29.65 in 2017." (Monahan blog, 7/20/17)
- FACT: In 1947, the year Pearce was born, his parents made $200 for the entire year. Using the same calculation, that equates to $2,245 in income for the entire year in 2017 dollars.
- FACT: In 1948, after that year's cotton crop was ruined, Pearce's parents made $50 for the entire year as sharecroppers – the equivalent of $516 in 2017 dollars.
CLAIM: "There is nothing wrong with making a good wage to provide for your family, but it is not exactly fair to make it appear that your family struggled while making way more than the average family in America at the time." (ProgressNow, 7/12/17)
- FACT: A 2011 study places the average income for the middle fifth of American families in 1947 at $26,548 in 2011 dollars. Using rough estimations, that means the Pearce family made about 8 percent of what the average family made the year Steve Pearce was born. (Source: Economic Policy Institute)
- FACT: In 1947, the bottom fifth of American families made an average income of $7,808 in 2011 dollars. Using the same rough calculations, the Pearce family made about a quarter of the yearly income of the average low-income family the year he was born. (Source: Economic Policy Institute)
FACT: After finding themselves unable to provide for their family while working as sharecroppers, the Pearces moved to New Mexico. Steve's father began working as an oil field day laborer, making about 75 cents per hour when he could find work.
FACT: Steve Pearce also started working day labor jobs near Hobbs when he was nine years old.
FACT: After several years of hard work and moving around Southeast New Mexico chasing jobs and opportunity, the Pearce family found itself in the late 1950s on a five-acre farm and his father secure in a job with a major oil company earning $2.62 an hour.