Employment

A bit after noting yesterday the electronic unavailability of the Department of Workforce Solutions' monthly news released about employment numbers, an obvious alternative appeared in the search for the figures: Go to the DWS headquarters and see if a paper copy was available. One was. Low teach, but it worked.

Apparently the news release had been posted minutes before the visit. For the release, see www.dws.state.nm.us/dws-Mnews.html. In its post haste, DWS forgot to remove the notice apologizing for the release not being posted. As of 11 a.m. yesterday, the economic research group lacked phones, a fact that also amused the DWS staff that provided an escort to the economic research office.

The release offers news: New Mexico's declining annual rate of employment growth has cracked the 1 percent barrier, dropping to 0.9 percent for the year between October 2006 and October 2007. Three sectors lost jobs statewide: manufacturing (-1,700, -4.4%); construction (-800, -1.3%); information (-100, -0.6%). 

Metro area wage job growth rates were: Santa Fe, 3.9%; Las Cruces, 2.3%; Farmington, 1.5%; and Albuquerque, 1%. With all the metro areas growing faster than the state rate, the arithmetic says rural areas grew even less. Santa Fe's wage job growth came in the face of zero new jobs in six of 12 sectors. Albuquerque manufacturing has lost 1,600 jobs in the past year with semiconductors taking the big hit.