McKinley nearly NM’s lonesome unemployment dove
New Mexico’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.2 percent for the month of June, unchanged from May and down from 6.6 percent a year ago.
The national unemployment rate for June was 4.9 percent, up from 4.7 percent in May and down from 5.3 percent in June 2015.
In McKinley County, home to 71,000 inhabitants, according to U.S. Census records from the year 2014, the unemployment rate in June of this year was 10.1 percent, which is somewhat of a climb from an 8.2 percent unemployment rate in May 2016.
The unemployment rate in McKinley County in June 2015 was 10.8 percent.
In neighboring Cibola County, about halfway between Gallup and Albuquerque, the unemployment rate for June was 8.9 percent, up from 6.5 percent in May. Cibola’s unemployment rate in June 2015 was 8.9 percent, according to Department of Work Force statistics.
Unemployment statistics are typically a month behind, as it takes that long to compile them, Tracy Shaleen, an economist with Work Force, said.
“I think what you see here are numbers based on seasonal unemployment,” Shaleen said. “In the case of McKinley County, this is something that happens along these lines about every year.”
Shaleen noted that seasonal jobs, like bus driving, end around the beginning or middle of June, or at the end of the school year, and that impacts a county’s unemployment rate.
“These workers literally leave the work force, so that becomes a factor in the bigger unemployment picture,” Shaleen said. “I think the same unemployment rationale can be attributed to Cibola County. In a lot of ways, both counties have a lot in common.”
Bill Lee, a former McKinley County manager and currently the executive director at the Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce, said some businesses are not working with a sufficient number of employees, which can tie into the area’s unemployment rate.
Lee noted the seasonal changes in unemployment around McKinley County, saying there are employment vacancies at many McKinley businesses.
“Yes, you are talking about seasonal jobs,” Lee said. “By the same token, there are businesses that need employees, but those businesses haven’t put big numbers of people into the work force. Not yet, anyway.”
Health care, retail, and education are the largest employment industries in McKinley County, where the top employers are Gallup-McKinley County Schools, Gallup Indian Medical Center, and Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services.
In neighboring Cibola County — wherein parts of the Navajo Nation, as well as Acoma, Zuni, and Laguna Pueblos are located — the top employment industries are tourism, government, and health care.
Mount Taylor, the New Mexico Museum of Mining, the El Morro and El Malpais National Monuments, the Bandera Volcano, and the Ice Caves are considered year-round tourist attractions in that county.
Luna County in southwestern New Mexico has the state’s highest unemployment rate at 11.5 percent. The lowest unemployment rate in New Mexico belongs to Union County in the far northeastern part of the state.
Davey Anderson, 33, a welder who has been unemployed for several months, said he’s thinking about applying for unemployment soon if no jobs materialize by the end of September.
“I’ve been a welder all of my life,” he said. “I’m going to keep looking for a job.”
By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent
