Last year, Errors of Enchantment implemented a tool to more granularly track job growth in the Land of Enchantment. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts a regular analysis of 12-month employment changes in the nation’s metropolitan statistical areas. Our tool explores New Mexico’s four MSAs, compared with the 49 MSAs found in the state’s five neighbors: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas.
As depicted in the chart above, average job growth from April 2017 to April 2018, for the neighbor MSAs, was 1.9 percent. Albuquerque notched the best mark in New Mexico, at 1.3 percent growth. Santa Fe expanded by 1.1 percent, and Farmington, defying its recent progress, dipped by 0.2 percent.
Las Cruces tumbled by a very disturbing 1.9 percent. Back in April, we noted the economic troubles of the City of the Crosses. And a few weeks ago, on Forbes‘s “Best Cities For Jobs 2018” count, Las Cruces landed at 393rd. (A total of 422 MSAs were examined.)
No New Mexico metro is healthy, jobs-wise, but the Land of Enchantment’s southernmost city is really hurting. Who, other than Errors of Enchantment, is talking about that?
