In a patronizing measure geared at those of us who just love lists, The Daily Beast compiled one for the best and worst states in terms of  job prospects. The news website used states’ 2006-2016 labor department employment projections, updated that using national employment projections through 2018, “which better reflected post-meltdown realities,” then factored in unemployment changes from 2006-2009. It threw all that down a rabbit hole and determined that New Mexico is the 11th best states for future employment. If your lack of health insurance hasn’t hastened the deterioration of your health to the point where you’re immobile, perhaps you could get that job as a senior safety consultant for PNM.

Miguel Olivas installs weatherstripping to my side door.

Last week I exalted the virtues of getting stuff without asking for it (while direly needing it), in regard to an EnergyWorks flier placed on my door.

This past Saturday, an EnergyWorks crew of three showed up at my door as promised. After handing me a power cord and two boxes of compact fluorescent light bulbs (I had to do some work, I guess), each crew member set out to a different task—insulating my water heater, changing faucet heads to the low-flow variety (I can’t tell the difference, so low-flow is fine by me), installing weatherstripping on my doors (the outside doors now make a satisfying suction sound upon entering the house).

Sadly, I was informed that my large, drafty single-pained windows—er, historic adobe house windows—are not the kind to be caulked. The group’s leader, Javier Gonzales, did, however, offer me an application to have newer and efficient windows installed at a discount.

In with the new out with the old: I installed compact fluorescent light bulbs, while the EnergyWorks crew did everything else.

Like another Housing Trust program, YouthWorks, of which many of the EarthWorks members are part, EnergyWorks fosters a symbiotic relationship. Therein, disadvantaged young adults acquire skills in the ever-more-necessary field of green construction, while homeowners have their homes modified to save on energy costs. There’re also the benefits to the environment that come from curbing the destruction an inefficient home wreaks.

EnergyWorks requires that you sign a release, which gives the group permission to compare your energy costs, before and after the modifications. In that way, EnergyWorks can prove its viability when it seeks more funding. With my windows a no-go, the EnergyWorks crew zipped through its procedures and was in and out in little over a half-hour. The energy-cost results aren’t in yet but, as far as I can tell, the crew did a great job.

According to the crew, last Saturday they had completed updates on 160 houses. According Housing Trust Resource Development Manager Daniel Werwath, EnergyWorks plans to do work on 250 homes and, with the results from the energy releases, will seek funding for more.

Call  470-5892 to set up your own appointment.

If there’s any truth to this anonymous tip posted on Frank Young’s feisty LANL blog, northern New Mexico stands to lose hundreds more well-paying jobs.

I’ve got an email out to a media rep at the Lab and will update this post when I get a response.

Updated July 7: LANL spokesman Jeff Berger told SFR yesterday afternoon that the rumor is false. “We do not have plans for layoffs,” Berger says.

Period?

“Period.”

What about going forward?

“If the budget necessitates layoffs, we would go there,” Berger says. “But we’ve anticipated and experienced in recent years relatively flat budgets. That’s what we continue to anticipate.”

This morning a notice for a job fair for the new Flying Star Café showed up in my inbox. Wow, someone’s hiring. And the Flying Star is actually going to open—it was originally slated for December according to Albuquerque staffers whom I tormented every time I was in the Duke City—but was eventually pushed back to April.

Anyway, the deets on the job fair are that Flying Star is looking for…pretty much everyone. The fair itself is from noon-5 pm Monday, March 23 at the Farmers Market (1607 Paseo de Peralta). But that’s not what’s worth blogging here. Oh no, what’s amazing here is the video from Flying Star’s website. A virtual tour of the new store. Make sure to turn up the volume for the full effect. And then sit back, relax, ask WTF? and hope to God they don’t play this music on repeat in the new restaurant. This, my friends, is video art at it’s worst.

The New Mexico Department of Labor, er…”Workforce Solutions”—sorry—released new unemployment figures today.

Here’s the happy-face lead: If state-to-state job availability was graded on a curve, New Mexico would get an A!

“New Mexico’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in January 2009, up from revised estimates of 4.7 percent in December and 3.7 percent a year ago. The national unemployment rate was 7.6 percent,” the release says. “Even with negative job growth, New Mexico outperformed many other states.”

Of course, for those already thrown out of work, that’s a big so-effing-what.

“Health care and government appear to offer the best employment prospects for the state as we navigate difficult economic times,” the release says.

Further, “Most of the government jobs are at the local level, many at tribally owned casinos.”

Which suggests that the most you can do to help the economy right now is to get terminally ill and piss your money away at the slots. Otherwise, here are your options:

Option 1: Apply to medical school.

Option 2: Learn to count cards.

Better yet, do both.

And if you already live in Santa Fe: Don’t move. The unemployment rate here is almost a full percentage point lower than in Albuquerque.

The full skinny on Santa Fe comes after the cut.

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