Some New Mexico State University experts provide an assessment of the national and regional economies Thursday at 7 p.m. on KRWG-TV during the Chamber Economic Forum, a partnership between KRWG and the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce.
In the Las Cruces metro area….the top three sectors with job losses are also high paying industries. In the last year…Manufacturing was down more than 11 percent...Natural resources and construction was down by about nine percent…and business services was off by about four percent.
New Mexico State University economist Doctor Chris Erickson says the state per capita income is already far below the national average. So for Las Cruces to be losing jobs in higher paying sectors is particularly disturbing.
While Erickson says improving education is the key to boosting the labor market…the state is hampered in doing that. A recent Legislative Finance Committee report said New Mexico is having trouble retaining educators because of low pay. Locally…the differences are stark. Las Cruces Public Schools starting teacher pay is $34,000 a year….it’s $44,000 in the El Paso Independent School District. And recent concerns about working conditions may only add to the problem. New Mexico recently forced the Las Cruces Public Schools to submit contractually-negotiated sick and personal leave days to be counted against teachers on their annual performance evaluations.
http://youtu.be/9vWdVfv20N0