New Mexico's unemployment numbers look good, but Las Cruces lags. KC Counts talks with Las Cruces Sun News Reporter Damien Willis about the new numbers:
KC Counts:
Damien, almost every day I hear a report on NPR about economists forecasting whether they think we're going to be entering A recession within the next year or not. It just seemed like the economy kept on performing better than folks had hoped, which sounds like a very strange thing to say, and in one of those areas it's been employment with historically low unemployment and you've got some New Mexico numbers to talk about.
Damien Willis:
That's right, unemployment has fallen to 3 1/2 percent across New Mexico. We're seeing some of the biggest declines actually in population centers. There was plenty of good news from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. They released their March unemployment data on April 21st. joblessness fell statewide and in all four metropolitan areas, New Mexico's unemployment rate for March was, as I mentioned, 3 1/2%, down from 3.6 in February. That figure also matched the national unemployment rate of 3 1/2% and was tied for 28th in the country, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. South Dakota had the lowest jobless rate in the country at 1.9, Nevada was the highest at 5.5. Now KC, the jobless rate fell more sharply in the state’s population centers. So there were four that the Department of Workforce Solutions tracked Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Farmington, and Las Cruces. The Farmington area saw the biggest decline from 4.6 to 3.6%, so they dropped a full point. They had the lowest jobless rate among the State’s 4 metropolitan statistical areas. That's what they call them - MSA's. Santa Fe was at 2.7% - that was down pretty sharply from 3.4% in February; Albuquerque was next at 2.8 from 2.6 in March. The Las Cruces area, which I'm sure our listeners care the most about, actually came in fourth. We had the highest unemployment rate of the State’s 4 MSA’s at 3.9% in March. But that was still a pretty significant improvement. In February, we were at 4.7%. So we are seeing some improvements.
KC Counts:
Where Las Cruces is concerned, you know, we think a lot about other areas of the county and how those areas are robust - places like the border industrial complex at Santa Teresa might contribute to county- level numbers. What can you tell us about the overall picture when it comes to unemployment by counties?
Damien Willis:
Well, our neighbors to the West, Luna County once again registered at the highest job loss rate in New Mexico in March. They were at 11.8%, although there is still a little bit of. A silver lining? Down from 13.4% in February and right next to them? Yeah. Counting just to the north was the only county in the state with an unemployment rate of more than 5%. They were at 6.3%, so at the other end of the spectrum, Los Alamos again had the lowest rate in the state. They were at 1.4 and they were one of the 13 counties in the state with the rate of less than 3%. So basically all the way around, things seem to be looking up on the job front.
KC Counts:
All right, well, you can read more on this story at lcsun-news.com, Damien, thanks so much for filling us in. Have a wonderful week.
Damien Willis:
You too, KC. It's always fun.
