NM unemployment no longer nation’s worst

State’s 6.6% in May raises it over Alaska

WASHINGTON — New Mexico’s unemployment rate ticked down to 6.6 percent in May, moving it out of the ignominious worst-in-nation slot it had held for several months.

Last month, New Mexico’s 6.7 percent rate was the worst in the U.S. Alaska now sits at the bottom with 6.7 percent unemployment. Colorado maintained its best-in-nation status with a 2.3 percent rate, followed by North Dakota, at 2.5 percent.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate is at a 16-year low of 4.3 percent.

The New Mexico rate was down from 6.7 percent in both April 2017 and May 2016.

The state added 7,500 jobs year over year, according to the Department of Workforce solutions. Driving the increase were private sector industries, which have added 10,000 jobs since May 2016, offset by a loss of 2,500 jobs in the public sector, according to the department.

The fastest-growing industries were leisure and hospitality, up 3,500 jobs for a 3.6 percent gain, and construction, which added 3,200 jobs, up 7.5 percent.

Manufacturing posted the largest loss, down 700 jobs or 2.6 percent, and financial activities lost 600 jobs, or 1.8 percent. Job losses in mining, which includes the hard-hit oil and gas industry, totaled 300 jobs, or 1.5 percent, but that is actually a slower pace than in much of 2016.

Elsewhere, figures from the U.S. Department of Labor suggest that steady, if slower, hiring this year is improving the job market in many states. Florida added nearly 30,000 jobs last month, the most of any state, followed by New York with nearly 28,000 and North Carolina with almost 19,000.

Still, the job gains nationwide have slowed in the past couple of months. Hiring averaged 121,000 a month in the past three months, down from 201,000 in the preceding three.