New Mexico’s poor labor market performance

The Fraser Institute is a Canadian free market think tank. They recently published a study measuring labor market performance in US States and Canadian provinces. States and provinces were ranked on a variety of performance measures that are contained in the report, but that I’ll share with you relating to New Mexico below:

Index of Labour Market Performance, 2007–2011: 34th, top state North Dakota, bottom state Michigan;
Average total employment growth, 2007–2011: 34th, top state Texas, bottom state Michigan;
Average private-sector employment growth, 2007–2011: 48th, top state North Dakota, bottom state Rhode Island;
Average GDP per worker, 2006–2010: 37th, top state Delaware, bottom state Vermont;

Full report is an interesting read. Perhaps most telling, aside from New Mexico’s performance, is the performance of Canadian provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan. Perhaps this has something to do with Canada’s embrace of economic freedom relative to the US? I’m just sayin’.