Ouch: more bad jobs data for New Mexico

Check this report out from New Mexico Biz First.

The job data from April 2013 to April 2014 for New Mexico and its neighbors are as follows:

Arizona: +40,600
Colorado: +70,800
Nevada: +44,700
New Mexico: -5,900
Oklahoma: +25,600
Texas: +348,000
Utah: +38,500

The silver lining is that job losses were led by the government sector, which shed 3,700 jobs during the year. Of course, I discussed the serious problem with New Mexico’s federal over-reliance in the now-defunct Albuquerque Tribune way back in 2007. Long-term less reliance on Washington will be helpful to New Mexico’s economy and our economic prosperity, but we need policies like our neighbors have (zero income tax, right to work, or constitutional tax and spending controls) that cause businesses and employers to locate elsewhere. The potential for those reforms doesn’t make the transition any less wrenching.