FARMINGTON – New Mexico had the highest unemployment rate in the country in June, while unemployment in the Metropolitan Statistical Area of Farmington rose 1.4 percentage points, according to reports published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the New Mexico Department of. published numbers HR solutions.
The state’s unemployment rate of 7.9% in June was the adjusted figure for May, which was originally reported at 8%. New Mexico has the county’s highest unemployment rate with Connecticut, but the June show allowed the state to extend its streak to five months as the unemployment rate rose. It was also well below the June 2020 rate of 9.8%.
The Farmington MSA was not so lucky. After falling to 8.5% in May, the region’s unemployment rate rose to 9.9% in June – by far the highest of the state’s four MSAs. The Santa Fe MSA had the lowest rate at 7.8%, while the Albuquerque MSA was second at 8.1% and the Las Cruces MSA was third at 8.4%.
All four MSAs across the state saw their unemployment rate rise significantly from May to June.
In the Farmington case, the increase was driven at least in part by an increase in the labor force, which grew from nearly 50,000 in May to nearly 51,000 in June. This increase likely indicated that the number of people who stopped looking for work were returning to job hunting.
That number in Farmington has increased significantly over the past year. In June 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Farmington MSA workforce consisted of just over 47,000 people. The unemployment rate at this point in time was 11.8%. But the Farmington MSA still hasn’t hit the pre-pandemic 52,185 level it saw in December 2019.
The Albuquerque and Las Cruces areas also saw an increase in the labor force in June, while the MSA in Santa Fe saw a slight decrease.
Unemployment across the state remains well above the national rate of 5.9%. But the US unemployment rate rose slightly from month to month, from 5.8% in May. That number was still significantly lower than the 11.1% rate the nation recorded in June 2020.
Although the state’s unemployment rate was static, unemployment rose in many counties across the state, even on opposite ends of the spectrum. Luna County continued to have the highest rate in New Mexico at 16.5%, while Lea County came second at 11.3% and McKinley County came third at 10.9%. Taos County was ranked fourth at 10.4% with Cibola County, while San Juan Counties and Torrance Counties were ranked sixth at 9.9%.
Los Alamos County again had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 3.6%, while Harding County was second at 4.3% and Union County was third at 4.8%. But all 10 of those counties showed an increase from month to month.
Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or [email protected]. Support local journalism with a digital subscription.
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