Unemployment

A good economic statistic that is seldom mentioned locally is the number of people filing new claims for unemployment compensation. Nationally, for the week of March 14, new claims increased 22,000. The four-week moving average increased 6,000. Both numbers are considered to indicate a further weakening of the labor market.

State figures lag, as always. For New Mexico, the number of new claims increased 73 for the week of March 8, as compared to a year ago. During the week of March 1, the number of people drawing unemployment was up 1,564 from a year earlier.