Have you noticed that New Mexico is experiencing slow job growth as businesses work to reopen after the pandemic. The state’s unemployment rate is tied for the 3rd highest in the nation. From March – April, only 1,500 jobs were added to New Mexico’s job work force.
We should be asking ourselves why. It could be that New Mexico has been locked down longer than many states, we continue to payout unemployment benefits as if we have the money, and Michael O’Donnell, acting director of UNM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, “acknowledged that expanded unemployment benefits could play a role in keeping people from working, but said the relatively high unemployment rate may have more to do with the composition of the state’s workforce, which is older and less educated than the national average.” Back in August 2020, Forbes ranked New Mexico Schools 51 out of 51 states (the District of Columbia has it’s own school district).