Back to the past. After 10 years and 7 months, NM finally reaches pre-recession jobs levels

The good news is that New Mexico's economy has now fully recovered from the Great Recession and that it has finally surpassed pre-recession jobs levels. The bad news is that it took 10 years and seven months for the state to recover.

In other words, after 10 years and seven months, New Mexico is back where it was in February of 2008 in terms of jobs, back at the starting line. In February of 2008, the state had 849,900 nonfarm payroll jobs. As of the end of this September, the state had 850,500 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the year that ended Sept. 30, the state added 19,600 jobs for a 2.3 percent growth rate. However, the fastest growing industry sector was Leisure and Hospitality, which has the lowest paying jobs of any sector.

So it's back to the past for New Mexico. We'll see where the economy goes from here.