Drop in New Mexico unemployment rate means cut to unemployment benefits

The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions will provide six weeks less of unemployment benefits, up to 93 weeks, after June 12 because of the state’s declining unemployment rate. The state had provided 99 weeks of benefits since February thanks to federal assistance that kicked in when the state’s three-month unemployment rate was above 8.5 percent — unemployment was at 7.6 percent as of April 2011. Nationally, unemployment was at 9.1 percent as of May 2011, and only 54,000 jobs were added last month, down from three months of gains over 220,000