Both New Mexico as a whole and the Albuquerque area continue to best the national figures.
- The state's unemployment rate is 3.8%, up from 3.5% in April. Last year at this time the rate was 3.6% so there has been very little deterioration.
- The Albuquerque area, has slipped a little further to 3.8%. That is an increase of .4% from the same month last year.
- Again, the state is doing better than the Albuquerque area. Overall growth was 1.1% -- and that puts New Mexico in 9th place among all states.
- By contrast, Albuquerque employment rose just .4% in May and only .5% during the last year. The leading sector (no surprise) is Educational and Health Services with a yearly increase of 1,600 jobs since May of '07.
We lost a lot of jobs at Intel a few months back... roughly 1,000 depending on who was counting. (The oldest chip fabricating plant was shut down.) About two weeks ago, Hewlett-Packard announced that it would be bringing 1,300 jobs to the Rio Rancho area. But, while the loss was immediate, the gain will take some time: site choice, design and construction will all have to take place prior to hiring.
