I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The unemployment rate in New Mexico dropped to 8.7 percent in April from 8.8 percent in March. This is up from 6.6 percent from April 2009, according to the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. The national unemployment rate is at 9.9 percent.
The state lost 15,500 jobs from April 2009 to April 2010 and only two of the state’s industries grew jobs over the last year, led by the government and temporary work provided by the federal government with the census. Government gained 2,500 jobs total over the last year.
Educational and health services was the lone private-sector industry group that grew jobs over the past calendar year — 2,200 jobs since last April.
That hardest hit industry was the construction industry which lost 5,400 jobs in 12 months.
In the Albuquerque area, the unemployment rate was 9 percent, down from 9.2 percent in March. This is up 2.1 percent from April 2009. According to the Department of Workforceo Solutions, “the April 2010 nonfarm employment total was the lowest for the month since 2004, an indicator of the recession’s severity. Negative growth persisted for the nineteenth consecutive month as only three of the 12 major industry divisions added jobs.”
In the Las Cruces area, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent in April, down from 8.5 percent in March. This is still up from 6.3 percent in April 2009. The Las Cruces economy had its 16th straight month of negative job growth in the area.
In the Santa Fe area the April unemployment rate was at 7 percent, down from 7.5 percent in March. The unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in April 2009. The Santa Fe job market “appears to be improving” after a weak market in the past two years.
In Farmington ,t he unemployment rate dropped to 10.1 percent in April, down from 11.2 percent in March. This is still much higher than the 6.3 percent unemployment rate in April of 2009.
New Mexico’s April unemployment rate ranks 28th out of the the fifty states and the District of Columbia. The highest in April was Michigan, with a 14 percent unemployment rate. The lowest, as it has been for months, is North Dakota, with a 3.8 percent unemployment rate.
As for New Mexico’s neighbors, Arizona ranks 19th with a 9.5 percent unemployment rate, Texas ranks 32nd with an 8.3 percent unemployment rate, Colorado ranks 34th with an 8 percent unemployment rate, Utah ranks 37th with a 7.3 percent unemployment rate and Oklahoma ranks 46th with a 6.6 percent unemployment rate.
