Monthly News ReleaseEmployment & UnemploymentJanuary 26, 2012Complete News Release in PDF formatPress Release SummarySchedule of Publication
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:Contact: Joy Forehand (505) 250-3926 |
New MexicoNew Mexico’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.6 percent in December 2011, up slightly from 6.5 percent in November but down from 8.6 percent a year ago. The national unemployment rate dropped to 8.5 percent. The rate of over-the-year job growth, comparing December 2011 with December 2010, was 0.9 percent, representing an increase of 7,400 jobs. New Mexico has now posted seven straight months of over-the-year job growth, following a sustained period of losses that began in November 2008. The employment survey showed seven industries adding jobs, five losing jobs, and one unchanged from a year earlier. The largest private-sector industry group, educational & health services, continued to add a large proportion of the new jobs. This fast-growing group of firms, dominated by large health care providers, gained 4,300 jobs over the year, growing 3.5 percent. Retail trade has recovered from previous losses to report 3,700 additional jobs, while wholesale trade posted gains totaling 1,800 jobs. Employment also increased over the year in financial activities (up 2,800 jobs), mining (up 2,400 jobs), leisure & hospitality (up 1,400 jobs) and manufacturing (up 100 jobs). The professional & business services industry reported employment that was unchanged from a year earlier. This marks improvement from the losses reported for most of 2011. The remaining four private-sector industries each recorded declining employment. Construction was down 6,000 jobs over the year. Two industries—information and transportation, warehousing & utilities—each shed 200 jobs from their previous-year totals, while the miscellaneous other services category was down 1,400 jobs. Government employment registered a net loss of 1,300 jobs over the year, with a small gain in state government (up 400 jobs) only slightly offsetting much larger losses at the federal (down 800 jobs) and local (down 900 jobs) levels. The government sector posted negative over-the-year growth for all but one month in 2011. Albuquerque MSAThe seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the Albuquerque MSA edged up to 7.0 percent in December 2011 from 6.9 percent in November, marking its first increase in more than a year. The civilian labor force expanded for the fourth consecutive month, as both employment and unemployment increased in December. These over-the-month changes may indicate that discouraged workers have begun returning to the labor force, with still-tepid job growth insufficient to fully accommodate their reentry. The civilian labor force remained well below its year-earlier level, however, when the unemployment rate stood at 9.0 percent. December nonfarm payroll employment was down 1,700 jobs or 0.5 percent over the year in the Albuquerque MSA, where job growth again lagged that of the state as a whole (up 0.9 percent) and the three other metropolitan areas (Santa Fe, up 1.6 percent; Las Cruces, down 0.4 percent; and Farmington, down 0.4 percent). Contraction in both government (down 1,000 jobs or 1.2 percent) and the private sector (down 700 jobs or 0.2 percent) pushed the Albuquerque MSA to its thirty-ninth consecutive month of year-over-year losses. Employment increased in four industries, decreased in six, and was unchanged in two. Atypically large over-the-month gains in September and November sharply increased educational & health services employment from the levels that persisted through the first two-thirds of 2011. The industry posted an over-the-year gain of 1,900 jobs or 3.5 percent for December, more than doubling combined job increases for the other three expanding industries. The late-year gains have again boosted educational & health services above professional & business services to the top spot in the ranking of the area’s largest private industries. Leisure & hospitality posted a modest over-the-year increase of 600 jobs or 1.6 percent, down from 3.7 percent the past two months, after a large over-the-month dip between November and December. This supersector, comprising NAICS 71 (arts, entertainment, and recreation) and NAICS 72 (accommodation and food services), recorded 2011 annual average employment growth of 3.7 percent (based on preliminary December data), its largest increase since 2006. Leisure & hospitality employment rebounded strongly in 2011, following a large 4.1 percent loss in 2009 and an incremental 0.3 percent gain in 2010. Information added 200 jobs, up 2.4 percent from a year earlier. Year-over-year gains for both November and December limited the industry’s 2011 annual average loss to 4.0 percent, following losses of 5.6 percent in 2010 and 4.3 percent in 2009. Information industry employment has in recent years been subject to large fluctuations based on activity in its motion picture and sound recording component. Wholesale trade, up 100 jobs or 0.8 percent, was the final industry to post an over-the-year increase in December. Preliminary December 2011 data show construction down 2,600 jobs or 12.5 percent from a year earlier. The industry has registered an over-the-year loss for each month since January 2007, equaling five full years of negative growth, with December 2011 employment of 18,200 marking the lowest level since June 1993. Construction posted respective 2007–2011 annual average losses of 2.9 percent, 7.2 percent, 15.5 percent, 10.0 percent, and 11.3 percent, resulting in a decline of 12,300 jobs or 39.3 percent from the industry’s 2006 employment total. The recent groundbreaking on residential development at Mesa del Sol, with homes expected to be available for sale in early spring 2012, was a welcome bit of news for a construction industry that has struggled to find a bottom. Government was down 1,000 jobs or 1.2 percent for December, finishing 2011 with eight consecutive months of year-over-year losses and its first annual average employment decline during the current series. Losses were steepest at the local level, down 900 jobs or 2.1 percent, with federal government, down 200 jobs or 1.3 percent, also trending lower. State government inched up 100 jobs or 0.4 percent. Despite the recent losses, government employment represented 22.6 percent of the 2011 annual average nonfarm total, its fourth consecutive annual increase and highest level during the current series. In the six years prior to the onset of the national recession, government employment averaged 20.1 percent of the nonfarm total. Employment in professional & business services was down 300 jobs or 0.5 percent, slipping to its lowest December level since 1998. Formerly the Albuquerque area’s largest private-sector industry, professional & business services contracted by a combined 7,900 jobs or 12.3 percent during 2009 and 2010, before shedding another 400 jobs or 0.7 percent in 2011. Because this industry encompasses such a wide variety of activities in its three sectors—professional and technical services, management of companies and enterprises, and administrative and waste services—its return to growth will be an important indicator that recovery has taken hold in the area economy. The financial activities industry was down 300 jobs or 1.7 percent over the year, with December employment of 17,300 matching the industry’s 2011 annual average. Financial activities was the only private-sector industry to post a steeper annual average employment decline in 2011 (negative 3.2 percent) than in 2009 (negative 2.7 percent). Retail trade also posted a narrower loss in December, down 200 jobs or 0.5 percent, while miscellaneous other services slipped by 100 jobs or 0.9 percent. Manufacturing and transportation, warehousing & utilities both remained at their December 2010 employment levels. The accompanying chart shows the Albuquerque area’s 2011 over-the-year employment change by month for the private-sector industries and government, along with the total nonfarm growth rate. Las Cruces MSAThe seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the Las Cruces MSA inched up to 6.8 percent in December 2011 from 6.7 percent in November, but was down sharply from 8.6 percent a year earlier. Over the month, Las Cruces MSA nonfarm payroll employment slipped by 100 jobs or 0.1 percent. Private-sector employment was unchanged, with 100-job losses in financial services and professional & business services fully offsetting 100-job gains in retail trade and transportation, warehousing & utilities. The seven remaining private-sector industries—construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, information, educational & health services, leisure & hospitality, and miscellaneous other services—remained at their November employment levels. Government employment was down 100 jobs at the state level and unchanged at both the federal and local levels. Over the year, employment in the Las Cruces MSA was down 300 jobs or 0.4 percent, as a 500-job private-sector gain was erased by an 800-job government loss. Employment increased in four private-sector industries (retail trade, up 200 jobs or 2.8 percent; educational & health services, up 200 jobs or 1.7 percent; wholesale trade, up 100 jobs or 8.3 percent; and transportation, warehousing & utilities, up 100 jobs or 5.9 percent), decreased in one (manufacturing, down 100 jobs or 3.7 percent), and was unchanged in six (construction, information, financial activities, professional & business services, leisure & hospitality, and miscellaneous other services). The government sector continued to be a drag on the area economy, down 800 jobs or 3.6 percent over the year, will all three components shedding jobs: state, down 400 jobs or 4.3 percent; federal, down 300 jobs or 7.3 percent; and local, down 100 jobs or 1.1 percent. The accompanying chart shows the Las Cruces area’s 2011 over-the-year employment change by month for the private-sector industries and government, along with the total nonfarm growth rate Santa Fe MSAThe seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the Santa Fe MSA was unchanged in December 2011 from a revised 5.3 percent in November, but down 2.0 percentage points from 7.3 percent a year earlier. Over the month, Santa Fe MSA employment fell by 100 jobs or 0.2 percent, with a 200-job loss in the private sector more than offsetting a 100-job gain in government. Two private-sector industries posted increases (leisure & hospitality and retail trade, each up 100 jobs or 1.1 percent), three posted decreases (educational & health services, down 200 jobs 1.8 percent; construction, down 100 jobs or 3.6 percent; and professional & business services, down 100 jobs or 2.3 percent), and the remaining six were unchanged from November (manufacturing; wholesale trade; transportation, warehousing & utilities; information; financial activities; and miscellaneous other services.) The 100-job gain in government came at the state level, with employment flat over the month at both the federal and local levels. Over the year, Santa Fe MSA employment expanded by 1,000 jobs or 1.6 percent. Four private-sector industries recorded gains (leisure & hospitality, up 800 jobs or 9.1 percent; retail trade, up 400 jobs or 4.6 percent; educational & health services, up 400 jobs or 3.8 percent; and financial activities, up 100 jobs or 3.8 percent), three registered losses (construction, down 300 jobs or 10.0 percent; information, down 100 jobs or 10.0 percent; and miscellaneous other services, down 100 jobs or 3.4 percent), and the remaining three were unchanged (manufacturing, wholesale trade, and professional & business services). Government employment fell by 200 jobs or 1.2 percent, with the federal and state levels each down 100 and the local level unchanged from a year earlier. The accompanying chart shows the Santa Fe area’s 2011 over-the-year employment change by month for the private-sector industries and government, along with the total nonfarm growth rate. Farmington MSAThe seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the Farmington MSA was unchanged in December 2011 from a revised 6.6 percent in November, but down sharply from 9.5 percent a year earlier. Over the month, the Farmington MSA posted a net employment decline of 600 jobs or 1.2 percent, with the private sector down 700 jobs or 1.9 percent and the government sector up 100 jobs or 0.8 percent. Private service-providing industries shed 500 jobs, down 1.9 percent, while goods-producing industries trimmed 200 jobs, also down 1.9 percent. The government increase came entirely at the local level, up 100 jobs or 1.1 percent, as federal and state payrolls were unchanged from November. Over the year, total nonfarm employment in the Farmington area fell by 200 jobs or 0.4 percent, as a government sector gain of 400 jobs or 3.5 percent was not enough to offset a private-sector loss of 600 jobs or 1.6 percent. Private service-providing industries accounted all of the private-sector loss, with the goods-producing industries holding steady at their previous-year total. Local government was up 400 jobs or 4.3 percent over the year, while federal and state payrolls were unchanged. The accompanying chart shows the Farmington area’s 2011 over-the-year employment change by month for the private-sector industries and government, along with the total nonfarm growth rate. Updated: January 26, 2012 | |
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