- The economic recovery has been good to Colorado, but not New Mexico.
- The percentage of Montezuma County children living in poverty is down, but remains high among Colorado counties.
The economic recovery has been good to Colorado, but not New Mexico. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for February of this year show New Mexico’s unemployment rate at 6.4 percent, compared to 4.9 percent in the United States as a whole. Utah’s rate is just 3.4 and Colorado is at an enviable 3 percent. The seasonally adjusted figures are for non-farm jobs. The Associated Press reports that New Mexico ranks third-worst among the 10 states that have not regained the jobs they lost in the recession. The state has been hard-hit by cutbacks in oil and gas production.
The percentage of Montezuma County children living in poverty is down, but the county remains 25th in terms of child welfare among 25 Colorado counties for which reliable data is available. That’s according to the annual Kids Count! report by the nonprofit Colorado Children’s Campaign. The report says 27 percent of Montezuma kids were living in poverty in 2014, down from 30 percent the year before. Statewide, 15 percent of children under 18 were in poverty in 2014. Colorado’s rate of uninsured children is at a record low, which researchers say is largely because of the Affordable Care Act.
