ABQ-AREA JOBS PICTURE BRIGHTENS

Education, health services lead gains

June brings welcome employment news with gain of 7,600 positions.

The jobs picture in the Albuquerque area perked up in June, showing a 2 percent year-overyear increase in jobs following months of growth of less than half that amount.

The gain is the largest seen since June 2016, when the number of jobs had risen by 2.4 percent over June 2015.

Statewide, job growth increased by 2.3 percent last month.

The boost of 7,600 jobs in the Albuquerque area was led by an increase in education and health services jobs, according to the state Department of Workforce Solutions. That sector alone added 2,800 jobs, for a 4.4 percent increase.

“It’s a good turnaround,” Mayor Richard Berry said Wednesday. “Several sectors are really hitting it right now. As a mayor, you’re always looking at is the elevator going up or going down.”

Jobs in the leisure and hospitality fields were up 5.3 percent in the metro area, while the construction industry continued the boom it has seen statewide. Construction employment over the year increased by 1,200 jobs, or 5.6 percent, in the Albuquerque area, representing the largest percentage gain among all industries.

Also posting a healthy boost was the “financial activities” sector, which includes finance and real estate industry jobs. That sector saw a 5.5 percent increase, the largest in more than 18 years, according to Workforce Solutions.

Overall job growth in the

metro area had been stuck at or below 1 percent since last fall.

However, Berry said the figures have been in the positive column for 44 months.

“We’ve added 17,000 jobs since (the city) came out of the recession,” Berry said.

He also pointed to the metro area’s unemployment rate, which fell to 5.6 percent in June compared to 6 percent in May. The state’s unemployment rate was 6.4 percent, while the nation’s was 4.4 percent.