Second in Long Term Unemployed

Economic recovery in New Mexico, such as it is, is uneven, according to figures released yesterday from the Department of Workforce Solutions.
Farmington (+2,200 wage jobs, +4.3%) and Albuquerque (+7,000 jobs, +1.9%) were the winners in the year from April 2014 to April 2015. Santa Fe lost 200 jobs, or -0.7%, for year. Las Cruces was down 200, or -0.3%. The jobs figures are not seasonally adjusted.
As reported previously, the state added 12,600 jobs, year over year. Albuquerque and Farmington accounted for 73% of the new jobs.
Albuquerque’s leading employment sectors were leisure and hospitality and professional and business services, both with 2,000 new jobs. Education and health services followed with 1,700 new jobs. Government added 800 new Albuquerque jobs, split among federal, 100; state, 400; and local 300.
Of the Farmington jobs, 1,900 were in the private sector. DWS does not provide additional Farmington detail.
Education and health services added the most jobs in Las Cruces (+500) and Santa Fe (+300).
In the new issue of its Labor Market Review newsletter, DWS provided a commendable look at the state’s long-term unemployed. The term refers to those unemployed people without a job for 27 weeks or more. We were second nationally with 44.9% long term unemployed in 2014, after only Washington, D.C.
To be counted as unemployed, one must be seeking a job. The long term unemployed figure leaves out those who have dropped from the labor force. We are in the bottom five (or so) in labor force participation.