New Mexico unemployment rate drops to 11.3% in August

Percentage of unemployed is still higher than the national figure of 8.4%

New Mexico’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in August, but still remained higher than the national average, according to new federal data.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced preliminary August unemployment rates for all 50 states on Friday. In New Mexico, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 11.3% in August, down from 12.7% the month before. Despite the decline, New Mexico’s rate was still significantly higher than the national unemployment rate in August, which stood at 8.4%, according to the BLS.

New Mexico was one of 41 states that recorded a decrease in its unemployment rate from July to August, according to the BLS.

New Mexico’s August unemployment rate was higher than the rates in all but five states: California (11.4%), Hawaii (12.5%), Nevada (13.2%), New York (12.5%) and Rhode Island (12.8%).

More detailed data from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions showed that total nonfarm employment dropped by 70,500 jobs between August 2019 and August 2020, a decline of 8.2%. As has been the case since the COVID-19 pandemic reached New Mexico, the decline was most pronounced in the leisure and hospitality industry, which lost 28.9% of its jobs compared to the previous year. The industry continued to shed jobs in August, as employment declined by 4.8% from July to August.

Employment in the mining and logging subsector, which includes the state’s oil and gas industry, was down by 30.3% compared to last August. The subsector shed another 1,300 jobs between July and August, according to the state data.

New Mexico Workforce Solutions Secretary Bill McCamley said the state’s economic health is intertwined with the physical health of its residents, and implored New Mexicans to stay vigilant in keeping the virus from spreading.

“The more we wear masks, social distance and wash our hands, the more we can get workers safely back on the job,” McCamley wrote in an email Friday.

Elsewhere in the Southwest, Arizona’s unemployment rate dropped from 10.7% in July to 5.9% in August, the second-largest decline during that period, according to the BLS.

Colorado’s rate declined from 7.4% in July to 6.7% in August, and Utah’s dropped from 4.5% to 4.1%.

Last August, New Mexico’s unemployment rate stood at 4.8%, according to the federal agency.

The federal unemployment data is largely based on a survey of households, rather than the number of new unemployment claims, according to a news release from the BLS.