
(Deming) -- Luna County's unemployment rate in January topped 20% -- the only county in New Mexico to reach the milestone and one of only two counties in the state with double-digit unemployment.
Preliminary figures from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions show Luna County with a January unemployment rate of 20.2%.
That figure is higher than December’s revised rate of 18.1%, and up from last January’s rate of 19.9%.
Following Luna County in the list of New Mexico counties with the worst unemployment is Mora County with 15.1%.
Those were the only two counties in the state with unemployment greater than 10%.
Rounding out the top five are Guadalupe at 9.3%, McKinley at 8.8% and Taos at 8.7%.
In our area: Grant County had 7.3% unemployment in January, Hidalgo County had 7.1% and the Las Cruces area had 7.6%.
The county with the least unemployment remains Los Alamos with 3.7%.
The state unemployment rate for January – at 6.6% – was the same as December’s revised rate but down from last January’s rate of 7%.
The New Mexico labor force estimates show Luna County with a labor force of 11,943 – with 9,533 employed and 2,410 unemployed.