By KRWG News
New Mexico – New Mexico's unemployment rate fell for the fifth straight month in July.
The New Mexico Department of Workforces Solutions reports Thursday that the unemployment was 6.7 percent, down from 6.8 percent in June and 8.5 percent a year ago. The national unemployment rate dropped to 9.1 percent.
July marked the fifth straight monthly decrease in unemployment since the state's jobless rate peaked at 8.7 percent earlier this year. But the state says the recent declines resulted from workers leaving the labor force, not an increase in employment.
There was job growth of 0.4 percent, or 3,500 jobs, when compared to July of 2010 -- the first time in 32 months that New Mexico reported any job growth on a year-over-year basis.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.