Comparing New Mexico’s workforce participation rate

People who follow the news in New Mexico are undoubtedly aware that the State’s unemployment rate at 7.9% is the highest in the nation.

But, unemployment rate is only one tool for measuring state economic policy. Workforce participation rate is another. We wanted to look at how New Mexico’s workforce participation rate had been impacted since COVID started, so we looked back to January 2020 and looked at data which is available through June of 2021. Here is the BLS workforce participation rate data.

As you can see below, New Mexico struggles with workforce participation and lagged the region before COVID. Of course, NM STILL lags the region, but more concerning is the fact that it seems like New Mexico’s recovery line has stalled.