But you should see the other guy...

Once again, employment figures for New Mexico and the Albuquerque/Rio Rancho area are less than thrilling... and far better than most. For February:

• 5.4% for New Mexico as a whole... up from 5.1% in January. Nationally the figure for February is 8.1%
• Albuquerque/Rio Rancho lifted to 5.8% from 5.5% in January.

Job growth is the other area we are 'out-performing' most of the country:

• Over-the-year job growth for the state was a negative 1.4%. Only six states reported any growth at all. But, again, for an area that normally has very little fluxuation, the past year has been worse than any in 17 years.
• Albuquerque/Rio Rancho lost 4,800 jobs -- a drop of 1.2%.
  

February New Home Starts

A small surprise... Rio Rancho permits rose 54% over January for a total of 93.

Albuquerque continued to lag. Only 31 permits were pulled for the entire city.

Most of the permits were for outlying subdivisions so sprawl is still happening... just at a slower pace. My guess is that trend will continue with the availability of up to $8,000 in stimulus money for a home buyer. That is certain to draw a number of first-time buyers into the market and many of those buyers will purchase entry level homes.

Looking Good (In Comparison)

January unemployment statistics are finally out. (I suspect the short month is partly responsible for the delay -- as well as needing to fill requests from the legislative branch which is in the middle of its 60-day session.) As usual with statistics, how you look at them matters a great deal.

• New Mexico's rate is 4.7% while the national rate is 7.6%.

Looks pretty good until you see the steadily increasing local numbers:

• In January of '08, our rate was 3.8%.

Far more damaging, however, is the rate of job growth. Over the past year we are at a (1.0%). That is the first year of negative growth since 1991 -- more than 17 years ago.

The Albuquerque/Rio Rancho area unemployment data mirrors the state:

• January '09 rate is 5.5%
• January '08 was 3.7%
• Job growth was (0.9%). That is the fourth month in a row of year-to-year negative numbers and the rate of decline has been accelerating.
  

Win Some... Lose Some

Intel announced an additional 50 layoffs; Sprint is hiring 40 more. Both in Rio Rancho... but unfortunately not at the same wage level, I suspect.