NM’s unemployment rate slips to 4.9%

First time unemployment below 5% since Sept. 2008

New Mexico’s unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in June, the first time the state has seen a level below 5 percent since September 2008.

Still, that rate continued to be the third worst among states, better only than Alaska’s and West Virginia’s, according to federal figures released Friday.

New Mexico, Pennsylvania and South Carolina showed the largest drop in unemployment last month, at 0.2 percentage points.

Unemployment in New Mexico has been slowly falling since December after years of being mired in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The rate was 6.1 percent in June 2017.

Hawaii had the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 2.1 percent. The national unemployment rate last month was at 4 percent.

The number of jobs in New Mexico was up by 2.1 percent compared to June 2017, with the biggest numeric growth occurring in the leisure and hospitality industries, according to the state Department of Workforce Solutions. That sector grew by 5 percent, or 4,900 jobs.

Most of the gains overall came in the private sector. Construction was up by 6.1 percent, and professional and business service jobs were up 4.1 percent.

Nationwide, the biggest increase in jobs over the past year were in Texas, California and Georgia.