Unemployment

New Mexico in January had the largest unemployment rate increase in the nation according to the U.S. Labor Department, reports the Santa Fe New Mexican. Unemployment in New Mexico rose to 8.5 percent, a 22-year high, up from 8.2 percent in December, the paper reports. That three-point jump was the biggest of any state’s, the U.S. Labor [...]

Want another fact to remind you that New Mexico isn’t as bad off as other states? New figures released by California on Wednesday showed that in eight counties, more than 1 in 5 people were out of work, the Los Angeles Times reported. The state’s unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to 12.5 percent. That compares with [...]

A report by payroll processor ADP shows there were only 20,000 private sector job losses in February, whereas there were 60,000 in January. Another report shows planned lay-offs by U.S. firms declined in February to the lowest level seen since July 2006. These numbers are in advance of Friday’s non-farm labor report, which analysts predict [...]

Revenues for this year, which ends June 30, are coming in weaker than expected and, as of Wednesday, New Mexico stood at $40 million in the hole, according to a memo from the Legislative Finance Committee, the Legislature’s budget arm.

The economy in New Mexico fell apart in a way not seen since the 1940s according to a story in the New Mexico Business Weekly. Overall, the state lost 43,000 jobs in 2009; the mining, manufacturing and construction sectors were among the hardest hit.

While the national unemployment rate of 10.2 percent is a sobering reminder of the depth of this recession and the protracted timeline a recovery will take, the challenges posed by long-term unemployment are far greater.

The state’s unemployment rate rose to 7.5 percent in August, meaning New Mexicans were unemployed that month than in any other month this year, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports today. The figures were released Thursday from the state’s Department of Workforce Solutions.

Joshua Cooper Ramo was on Meet the Press this week discussing his cover story for Time Magazine, “Jobless in America: Is Double-Digit Unemployment Here to Stay?” Josh, who grew up in Los Ranchos (his dad is KOAT’s Dr. Barry Ramo), is a former editor at Time.

The recent decline in the number of New Mexicans served by the safety net programs of Medicaid and General Assistance during the worst economic downturn in at least 25 years is of grave concern.

New Mexico’s unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent in January according to the Associated Press. This is up from 4.7 percent in December and 3.1 percent in January of 2008.
New Mexico lost 8,600 jobs in the last year.