From bad to bleak:

N.M. unemployment claims nearly double in a week

New Mexico’s unemployment news has gone from bad to bleak.

The state’s initial unemployment claims through Thursday nearly doubled over the previous week, reaching 31,849 in just four days this week, according to unofficial figures released Friday by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday reported 17,187 initial claims for the week ending March 21. But as industries throughout the state close or limit their operations due to the COVID-19 crisis and a stay-at-home order, it’s clear jobs are melting away — and unemployment claims are skyrocketing.

“The numbers are clearly trending up sharply,” said Jeffrey Mitchell, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of New Mexico, before this week’s numbers were released.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s stay-at-home order, which closed businesses deemed nonessential, has taken a toll on full-service restaurants and the hospitality industry throughout the state and particularly in Santa Fe. At least 23 states have similar orders.

“New Mexico is in the group of most aggressive states”

in imposing measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, Mitchell said.

State Workforce Solutions Secretary Bill McCamley in a news release noted not all claimants will qualify for unemployment insurance. The department certified 16,663 people receiving benefits or in the system awaiting determination this week through Thursday.

During the crisis, Workforce Solutions will not charge employers for benefits paid to claimants. The department will tap into its $453 million unemployment insurance trust fund and whatever unemployment funding comes to New Mexico from the $2 trillion coronavirus economic stimulus bill approved by Friday by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, McCamley said.

Before mass layoffs began, seven states had fewer weekly unemployment claims than New Mexico in the week ending March 14.

By March 21, 16 states had fewer claims than New Mexico.

The week ending March 21 was telling for initial unemployment claims, with claims multiplying 19.77 times from the prior week. Only 11 states had higher multiples, mainly grouped in New England and the Rust Belt, according to Department of Labor data.

“There seems to a relationship with how aggressive you are and the number of filings,” Mitchell said. “The governor of the state is acting very aggressively. The question is if we stick to it for a couple months and deal with the economic hit.”

Workforce Solutions has not been able to make an industry-by-industry analysis to determine why New Mexico’s unemployment surge exceeds much of the country. Such an analysis likely will not be available for a couple of weeks, McCamley said.

“Right now it would just be guesswork,” McCamley said in an interview. “I don’t think that would be responsible.”

County-specific numbers also are not yet available.

The New Mexico Economic Development Department is still working on modeling to determine precise causes for the huge increases in unemployment claims.

“It’s way too early to say anything on this until we see some GRT [gross receipts tax] and [oil] rig data,” Economic Development Department spokesman Bruce Krasnow said. “But obviously New Mexico had some seasonal ski closures as well as a larger percentage of small retail and hospitality workers.”