Job Growth: December Under 1%

Wage jobs in New Mexico grew less than 1% during 2007. The Department of Workforce Solutions released the figures January 24. The exact number is 0.9% growth for the year from December 2006 through December 2007. That means 7,300 new jobs during the year. The statewide  employment rate has finally started up, hitting 3.7% in December after bottoming at 3.1%, a 31-year low, in October. New Mexico's job growth rate is now 28th among the states.

The four metro areas added 7,700 jobs during the year. Doing the math, that means rural areas of the state lost 400 jobs. For the metros, the 2007 job growth rate and the number of new jobs were:

Albuquerque: +0.9%, 3,600 jobs.

Farmington: +1.9%, 1,000 jobs.

Las Cruces: +1.3%, 900 jobs.

Santa Fe: 3.5%, 1,000 jobs.

The Department continues unimpressed with movie jobs, again pointing out the short term nature of the employment. The information sector, which included movie work has added 300 jobs over the past year. Fluctuations along the way have been large. Even with the movie jobs, information sector employment remains below the peak of 2001.