Not Much Change In A Lousy Picture

As I have kept saying, we may be doing better than most states but the unhappy fact is that New Mexico and Albuquerque/Rio Rancho are not climbing out of a very deep hole. New Mexico's overall rate of unemployment inched up again while Albuquerque/Rio Rancho's fell slightly. But, both are more than 2.5% higher than this time last year. And, were it not for two sectors (government and health care) the figures would be much worse.

New Mexico unemployment:

• 6.8% this June
• 6.5% in May
• 4.1% last June

Albuquerque/Rio Rancho unemployment:

• 6.8% this June
• 7.0% in May
• 4.1% last June

In 'real people' terms, that means 26,400 jobs have disappeared in the state, of which 10,700 were within the Albuquerque/Rio Rancho area.