The news that cybersecurity startup Portal Locks probably won’t be bringing hundreds of new jobs to Questa is another bitter reminder that New Mexico is facing a severe employment crisis.
Looking back to the start of the Great Recession, though, the picture appears far worse. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that four out of New Mexico’s five neighbors has recovered, and grown past, their pre-downturn job peaks:
TX: 10.6 percent
UT: 8.2 percent
CO: 6.3 percent
OK: 3.1 percent
Both New Mexico (-2.0 percent) and Arizona (-2.3 percent) have yet to climb their way back to their pre-recession employment levels.
Yes, and even this sorry state of affairs is too generous to New Mexico as Arizona had been growing extremely fast prior to the economic downturn. It was experiencing a prototypical boom during the early 2000s. New Mexico was doing okay during that time period, but nowhere near Arizona: https://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-2.pdf