Many NM Jobs Gone Permanently

KOB - TV According to UNM's Bureau of Business and Economic Research, the latest U.S. Labor Department unemployment numbers may not paint such a rosy picture of an economic recovery in New Mexico after all. Economists say the April unemployment rate of 7.6 percent is down, but that is only part of the picture, and a misleading one at that. Economist Jeff Mitchell said that's because the unemployment rate only counts those who are actually looking for work not those who have given up or moved away to other states with better job opportunities. Mitchell also said that layoffs were common in past recessions, but workers returned to their jobs when the economy improved. "It's different this time," Mitchell said. "This time most of the people, in fact as many as 80 percent of the people who are now seen as unemployed… in fact their jobs are gone…permanently." Mitchell said New Mexico's actual workforce, those working and those looking for work, has declined month after month, and New Mexico remains near the bottom in job creation. "The jobs that we've lost tend to be those that are typically held by men, construction, manufacturing, transportation," Mitchell said. "Consequently, the unemployment rate is higher among men than it is among women." Read full story here: News New Mexico

Many NM Jobs Gone Permanently