Archive for January, 2010

Optimism reigns in the December job report from the Department of Workforce Services. DWS released the report this morning.

DWS does admit, “December was not a good month for employment in New

Mexico, with the seasonally adjusted series showing a decline

of 4,800 jobs.” Statewide, 25,900 seasonally unadjusted wage jobs went away from December 2008 through December 2009.

Reduced holiday hiring may explain December, DWS speculates. DWS’ hopes hang on September, October, and November being “three consecutive months of seasonally adjusted increases” before the December downer.

DWS “still believe(s) that we are several months into a slow recovery. There are typically a number of setbacks in any recovery, as we take two steps forward and one step back. December appears to one of those steps back.”

We hope.

The state now has five counties with more than 10% unemployment—Catron, Grant, Luna, Mora and Torrance. In December 2008, Luna County stood along in the elite group.

Here are the metros.

At 8.7% in December, Albuquerque’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate beat the state’s 8.3%. Albuquerque dropped 1,000 wage jobs from November to December and 13,900 year over year. Of the 12 employment sectors, only government and the combined education/health services sector grew during 2009. Metro Albuquerque government employment is up 1,400, year over year. The feds added 800 with 300 more each in the state and local sectors. Federal employment will continue to grow, temporarily, with census workers.

Las Cruces lost 1,700 wage jobs during 2009. That net includes gains of 100 each in government and education and health services. The Las Cruces unemployment rate was 8.5% during December.

In Santa Fe, the unemployment rate grew to 7.2% in December. Santa Fe lost 3,500 wage jobs during the year, a 5.4% decline. Even state government employment in the capitol city held at 8,300 year over year. The state did add 100 employees during November.

San Juan County (metro Farmington) lost 3,300 wage jobs during 2009, a 6.2% drop. Local government added 200 jobs during the year. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit 10.1% with the seasonally unadjusted rate at 9.4%.

The latest is from the Tax Foundation. The foundation’s newest was released January 14. The summary is below. For your convenience the report is posted on the Articles / Issues section of this site. Look under Documents. For more see: www.taxfoundation.org.

“Film Credits

“In the last decade, state governments have enacted numerous movie production incentives (MPIs), including tax credits for film production. MPIs are popular with state officials and many of their constituents but often escape routine oversight about benefits, costs and activities. Based on fanciful estimates of economic activity and tax revenue, states invest in movie production projects with small returns and take unnecessary risks with taxpayer dollars.

“MPIs fail to live up to their promises to encourage economic growth overall and to raise tax revenue. States claim MPIs create jobs, but the jobs created are mostly temporary positions—often transplanted from other states—with limited options for upward mobility. Furthermore, the competition among states transfers a large portion of potential gains to the movie industry, not to local businesses or state coffers.

 ”Additional questions about film tax credits? Contact us at (202) 464-6200.”

New Mexico’s unemployment rate stepped up another half a point in December over November. The December unemployment rate was 8.3%. The November rate was 7.8%. The December 2008 rate was 4.7%.

New Mexico lost 26,000 wage jobs during December 2008 to December 2009 year. From November to December, 4,800 seasonally adjusted wage jobs went away. Statewide, there were 817,100 wage jobs in December 2009.

The civilian labor force dropped by only 2,700 year over year. The labor force was 962,200 in December 2009. Of course, this is a net figure with graduating students, for example, entering the labor force and retirees, voluntary or otherwise, leaving the labor force.

Employment, a different figure from wage jobs, was 882,400 in December, a decline of 37,400 from December 2008.

For several months the Department of Workforce Services has offered the notion that New Mexico’s job situation had hit bottom in August. Next week DWS will detailed December numbers for the state and, perhaps, an amended analysis.

United Van Lines moved 2,482 shipments in and out of New Mexico during 2009. Of those, 1,378 or 55.5% came to the state while the rest departed. With the percentage of inbound shipments being over 55%, New Mexico lands in United’s 11-state “high inbound” group for the year. Five other western states were in the high inbound group, led by Oregon with 58.9% of the shipments being inbound.

In New Mexico, United moved one household for every 806 people during 2009. The figure for Arizona was one shipment for every 729 people and, in Colorado, one shipment for every 604 people.

The difference could reflect a varying dynamic in the three states or United’s market share. Or both. 

For 2009, the United Van Lines report is based on the 143,194 interstate household moves handled by United among the 48 contiguous states and Washington D.C. For United’s news release, see www.unitedvanlines.com/mover/united-newsroom/press-releases/press-releases.htm.

The January 2010 issue of Capitol Report New Mexico has just been added to the Articles / Issues section of this site.

Capitol Report has enjoyed a good life under the umbrella of the Rio Grande Foundation. This was made possible by a grant obtained about a year ago by the Foundation. Alas, the grant is gone. If the print edition of Capitol Report is to continue, a new home is needed. If you like Capitol Report in the print / web model and would like to see it continue, email to hmorgan3@mac.com. The idea is to find sufficient capital to publish monthly and build a marketing and sales program.

Note that the Foundation will remain the owner of www.capitolreportnewmexico.com. The Foundation has some exciting plans to bring a new dimension to this site.

The National Bankruptcy Research Center describes itself as “the premier source for the most current bankruptcy research and statistics.” See www.nbkrc.com/December2009_News.aspx for the Center’s report of December 2009 numbers.

Nationally, the Center reports, 28% of all bankruptcy filings to date were under Chapter 13 (rehabilitation), the procedure most directly related to home-mortgage distress. The three lowest states were New Mexico, Iowa, and West Virginia, all with less than 10% of their filings under Chapter 13.

For total bankruptcy filings, New Mexico was in the lowest category with from 4,040 to 8,000. New Mexico was in the second lowest category for percentage of loans in foreclosure with from 2.1% to 3% in foreclosure.

Nearly 6.2% of mortgages in Arizona and 9.4% of mortgages in Nevada were in foreclosure by the end of the third quarter of 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.