New Mexico鈥檚 unemployment rate fell the most of any state and Washington D.C. over the last year, according to a new federal report. While that鈥檚 good news, it doesn鈥檛 mean New Mexico is leading the nation in jobs.
Over 4.5% of New Mexico鈥檚 workforce didn鈥檛 have a job in March 2022. A year later, that number has fallen to 3.5%, according to released Friday.
鈥淲hich is a really big jump,鈥� said Nathan Friedman, an economist with the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. He said the 1.1% drop takes New Mexico from near the bottom of the list nationally to about the middle of the pack.
鈥淲e鈥檙e where the national average is, which is not amazing but it鈥檚 good,鈥� he said.
It didn鈥檛 take New Mexico all year to get there, either. In August, the state hit what Friedman said was an all-time low of 3.4% unemployment and has been holding pretty steady.
The reason New Mexico鈥檚 rate is falling faster than others now is because it initially lagged behind as the country began recovering economically from the pandemic, according to Friedman.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not really surprising,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat seems to happen to us for most recessions. We aren鈥檛 hit quite as hard as a lot of other states, but it takes us a little bit longer to get back on our feet.鈥�
He said that鈥檚 due to a number of factors in the state鈥檚 economy, including the of federal dollars.
The promising decline over the last year has been by private industry jobs and according to the state.
