NM Loses Jobs in May. Santa Fe Leads Metro Growth.

About 3 P.M. Friday the Department of Workforce Services passed along the May job numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. DWS wrote in jargon, saying “The rate of over-the-year job growth, comparing May 2012 with May 2011, was negative 0.2 percent, representing a loss of 1,500 jobs.” The Albuquerque Journal’s Saturday brief picked up the jargon, referring to negative growth.

The negative growth came in government with a 4,000 job loss from May 2011 to May 2012 that wiped out private sector production of 2,500 over the year. The federal government lost 1,600 jobs, year over year, with state government down 2,200 and local government down 200. Between April and May, government lost another 3,500 jobs with about half from education.

On an annual basis the sector gainers continued to be education and health services (+4,600), leisure and hospitality (+2,300) and mining (+1,900, almost a 20% gain).

The annual sector losers were professional and business services (-3,800), information (-800), and construction (-700).

New Mexico’s seasonally adjusted 5,200-job drop from April to May was considered statistically significant by the BLS. The state’s May to May seasonally adjusted loss of 4,200 jobs was statistically insignificant.

Metro Albuquerque gained 2,334 jobs, on a seasonally unadjusted basis, year over year. The percentage gain is tiny, two-thirds of one percent, but job growth in Albuquerque is essential for New Mexico to grow. For May 2012, metro Albuquerque provided 42.6% of the state’s employment.

Farmington gained all of 457 jobs during the year. The percentage gain was 0.89, a bit better that Albuquerque.

Las Cruces add 973 jobs, year over year. The increase was 1.14%.

The year brought 2,227 jobs to Santa Fe, making the City Different with a healthy increase of 3.19%. Santa Fe’s unemployment rate was 4.9% for May 2012, down nearly a point from May 2011. The improvement came as 1,656 people joined the labor in metro Santa Fe during the past year.