Jobs by County (Revised)

May 2: Aging eyes, compounded by small type, might be excuse. But, whatever... I missed two counties with declining labor forces and employment when originally doing this entry. They were Luna and Los Alamos. Something about Ls, perhaps. The totals are corrected. The March county figures still aren't posted.

In one respect—the unemployment rate—New Mexico's counties present a happy picture. The March figures were supposed to be posted today (4/30), but weren't, so we'll made do with February. The figures are not seasonally adjusted. For February, only one county—Luna at 12.7%—had an unemployment rate greater than 10%. Three others broke 5% unemployment—Mora, 8.2%; Catron, 5.2%; and Guadalupe, 5.1%. 

Taking the glasses off to squint at the small type in the Labor Market Review unveils a possibly different picture. In 15 of the state's 33 counties the labor force declined between February 2007 and February 2008. That may mean people have moved away from the county, which certainly is the case for Quay County which has a years-long decline in population. In other counties, people are sticking around but have quit looking for work. Eight of the 15 counties also show a drop in employment. The other seven, where employment has grown, report a nice drop in the unemployment rate, the statistic that the Department of Workforce Solutions likes to trumpet in its monthly news release.

Three of the counties with a smaller labor force are in the four-county Albuquerque metro. The three are Bernalillo, Torrance and Valencia. The total decline is less than 300. Still, it is down.

All three show increased employment.

The three largest of the other ten counties with a smaller labor force are McKinley, Otero and Rio Arriba. Employment increased in McKinley and dropped in Otero and Rio Arriba. The six other  counties with both a drop in labor force and employment are Catron, Colfax, Guadalupe, Los Alamos, Luna and Quay. The labor force shrank and employment grew in Roosevelt, San Miguel and Union counties.