11/3/2007
Santa Fe's job growth is continuing at a strong pace, two economists said
recently, giving more proof that the city's mandatory wage apparently hasn't
caused damage to the local economy.
"Santa Fe looks real good," said Mark Boyd, an economist with the
Department of Workforce Solutions, formerly the Department of Labor.
"It's probably the fastest-growing area in the state right now, except for
some places like San Juan and Lea counties," he said.
San Juan County is benefiting from strong oil and natural gas drilling and Lea
County from the construction of a uranium enrichment facility and power plant.
"Santa Fe is outperforming Albuquerque and outperforming Las Cruces,"
Boyd said. "Buffalo Thunder is part of that."
Buffalo Thunder is the luxury resort complex being built at Pojoaque Pueblo
that employs hundreds of construction workers and tradespeople.
In the second quarter of 2007, Santa Fe's job growth was 2.1 percent, said
Larry Waldman, an economist with The University of New Mexico's Bureau of
Business and Economic Development.
"That's pretty strong for Santa Fe," he said, noting that the city's
job growth had lagged last year. The figure for the second quarter of 2006 was
0.6 percent.
Construction "showed quite a bit of strength," Waldman said, as did
the information sector, which includes film making. "That was up 10.5
percent. They've posted some awfully big numbers in the past couple of
years."
The finance sector was up, helped by fast-growing Thornburg (Investment
Management), Waldman added.
Health care has been weak but picked up "a little" in the second
quarter, he said, while job growth in the government sector was flat.
For the month of September, Santa Fe's labor market continued to show strength.
The unemployment rate was just 2.8 percent, down from 3.3 percent a year ago,
according to the Labor Market Review.
And over-the-year job growth was 1.3 percent, with an addition of 800 jobs. Job
growth was evident in eight of the nine industries that make up Santa Fe's
economy, the review indicated.
That job figure may be too low, Boyd said, since revised numbers — which won't
be complete until March — may show much stronger job growth for Santa Fe than
originally indicated.
"The evidence I'm getting is that springtime (2007) growth is
significantly stronger than what we measured," Boyd said. "As the
rest of the state slows down, it looks like Santa Fe is not slowing down at
all."
Boyd said some of the difference between the initial numbers and the revised
numbers may be due to difficulty the standard job-growth survey has in picking
up such developments as the opening of new businesses and the expansion of
existing ones, such as St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.
Once the revised numbers are published, it will be evident that Santa Fe
"had one of the strongest economies in the state for the spring to summer
period of the year 2007," he said.
Santa Fe's job growth seems to indicate the city's mandatory $9.50 minimum wage
for businesses with 25 or more employees has not slowed the economy down.
"I hate to assume there's any cause and effect between the living-wage
ordinance and jobs," Boyd said, "but the living-wage seems not to
have had a detrimental effect" on Santa Fe's economy.
That finding is in line with a study conducted by the Bureau of Business and
Economic Research on the impact of the mandatory minimum wage on the Santa Fe
economy.
A preliminary analysis was released in September. Among its findings were:
The study also found that since the wage went into effect, the city's
year-over-year gross receipts have risen each quarter.
The strength in gross receipts continued into August, which had gross receipts
amounting to $7.8 million, according to the city's Finance Department. That was
4.4 percent better than last August.
So far this fiscal year, which started July 1, gross receipts are running 4.35
percent above the same period last year.
The study also concluded that the city's lodgers' tax growth has been
"relatively strong" since the first quarter of 2006.
That finding may have to be reviewed — the lodgers' tax number was negative for
June, July and August, according to the city's Finance Department.
June lodgers' tax collections were down 3.7 percent, July's down 8.26 percent
and August's off almost 24 percent. For the first three months of the fiscal
year, lodgers' tax collections are behind by 12.7 percent.
An employee of the Finance Department said some of the 73 lodging
establishments in Santa Fe are behind with their payments, which skews the
numbers.
The slumping lodgers' tax numbers are not borne out by the Rocky Mountain
Lodging Report, which tracks occupancy rates at Santa Fe hotels and motels.
The report indicates occupancy through the first nine months of the calendar
year is 64.6 percent, just slightly below the first nine months of 2006, when
the rate was 65.5 percent.
Contact Bob Quick at 986-3011 or
bobquick@sfnewmexican.com