Friday, September 26, 2014

NM Economy No Longer the Worst; Rural Counties Gain

The Department of Workforce Solutions didn’t quite let the work week end before sending out the detailed August job figures in the Labor Market Review newsletter. But DWS was close. The email came out at 4:51 P.M.
No wonder. Much exists to avoid. Three of the four metro areas lost wage jobs in the year August 2013 to August 2014. Las Cruces showed no change with Albuquerque down 600, Santa Fe down 900, and Farmington dropping 1,000 jobs or 2.1%. The metro job loss total was 2,500.
The state gained 4,600 jobs, year over year, 0.6% increase. That means the rural counties gained 7,100 jobs.
This stellar mediocrity bumped the state into a tied for 40th in job production among the states. Toot the horns; no longer the worst. Nebraska, New Hampshire and Ohio tied our job creation standard.
Among the sectors statewide, the critical manufacturing sector continued to disappear, down month-leading 3,000 jobs to 26,900. Professional and business services dropped 2,400 jobs with government down 800. The losses concentrated among the feds, down 1,000.
Education and health services added 6,100 jobs (shades of five years ago, DWS noted) with another 2,200 in finance. Mining, meaning mostly oil and gas, added 1,400 jobs.
To get to the loss of 600 jobs, Albuquerque got rid of 1,400 jobs in professional and business services and 1,000 in manufacturing.
Just noticed the DWS is called the regions “Workforce Investment Areas.” Bleah.

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