Thursday, April 21, 2005 Jobs Have Increased Twice as Fast in New Mexico as in the Nation By Winthrop Quigley Journal Staff Writer Employment in New Mexico grew 2 percent between the fourth quarters of 2003 and 2004, more than twice as fast as the national rate, University of New Mexico economists reported. The university's Bureau of Business and Economic Research, in its semi-annual Economy Watch report for the Albuquerque Journal, said state unemployment declined to 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter from 5.8 percent in the first quarter of 2004. New Mexico's total civilian nonagricultural employment reached 801,400 jobs by the fourth quarter, up from 785,300 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2003. Employment in the Albuquerque area— defined as Bernalillo, Sandoval, Valencia and Torrance counties— reached 375,700 jobs, up 2.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2003. Area unemployment was 5.1 percent. Bureau of Business and Economic Research director Lee Rey...