By KRWG News
New Mexico – New Mexico's jobless rate remained steady at 7.8 percent in November, the same as the previous month but much higher than the 4.6 percent rate in November 2008.
The national unemployment rate in November decreased to 10 percent.
The state's labor department, the Department of Workforce Solutions, says the state lost 25,400 jobs over the past year.
The department says the decline in the number of jobs is the worst New Mexico has seen in modern times and it will be a number of years until employment reaches pre-recession levels.
However, the department says New Mexico may have reached a statistical low point in August. Since then, the employer survey has reported three consecutive months of seasonally adjusted increases in the total number of jobs.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.