The retail industry may be suffering in Santa Fe and elsewhere in New Mexico, with job growth plummeting to a 65-year low statewide.

Four hundred retail jobs were lost in Santa Fe since last August, which helped give the city and county an unemployment rate of 6.3 percent.

But that doesn't mean nobody in the local retail business is hiring — Mike Brogdin, store manager of the Santa Fe Kohl's, recently hired 20 employees, bringing the store's total staff to 100.

"That number varies by store size and anticipated seasonal demand," a statement from Kohl's said. "Seasonal hiring began in September, and most jobs are filled by the third week of November, but there may be some additional hiring in early December."

Kohl's typical seasonal jobs include unloading trucks, freight processing, stocking and cash-register duties, the statement said.

Other local retailers hiring for current positions and to meet the demands of the holiday season include Lowe's Home Improvement, The Home Depot, Sears, Kmart,
J.C. Penney and Walmart.

"We're still hiring — I just did two interviews," said George Rodriguez, a manager of The Home Depot in Santa Fe. "We have more employees now than we did a year ago."

With 75 people now employed, "I would say we will be adding about 10 to
15 employees," said JC Penney manager Shawn Jaramillo. "They'll be starting around the end of October and the beginning of November."

The Santa Fe store is able to hire extra workers because "we're doing very well," Jaramillo said.

A Sears employee, who asked not to be identified, said that store also would be hiring holiday help.

The local Walmart store is also doing well and is considering adding temporary workers for the holidays, a store manager said. 'It kind of depends on (future) sales."

The Santa Fe Walmart employs about 350 people full and part time, said the manager, who asked not to be identified.

Several other employers, including Dillard's department store, couldn't be reached for comment.

The 9,000 or so people who work in Santa Fe's retail sector have experienced layoffs and may expect more to come, based on information from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, formerly the Department of Labor.

Layoffs in other areas of the local economy are also ongoing.

"Retail is getting softer and softer," said Mark Boyd, an economist with the Department of Workforce Solutions. "Last year was the worst we've ever seen. A lot of stores held on for the holidays, and then went out of business after that. There's no indication of a turnaround — both retail and wholesale are looking terrible right now."

Over the year, Santa Fe's job growth rate was minus 3.3 percent, which represents a loss of 2,000 jobs.

"The Santa Fe job market has been weak for about two years, but the recent date are especially disappointing," according to the Labor Market Review. "Previously job growth had alternated between positive and negative territory, mostly staying close to the zero line. Employment totals have, however, taken a sharp turn for the worse since the start of the year."

The Santa Fe numbers "are worse and worse," Boyd said. "The unemployment rate is not terribly bad, but the job market shows huge losses."

Boyd added: "These are not normal recession times. They're really something most of us have never lived through. Only now is it becoming apparent how bad the downturn is."

Boyd said every industry sector, with the exception of health care and government, is struggling. "It's hard to say where the bottom is," he said. "We're crossing our fingers and hoping that it won't get any worse. But we may never know (when the economy turned around) until after we're out of the worst part."

Statewide, the decline in the number of jobs at a rate of 3.7 percent "is the worst the state has seen January 1944, when the decline was also 3.7 percent" the Labor Market Review states. "The 1943/1944 decline was fairly short-lived and followed years where job growth averaged more than 8 percent."

The review added: "The current drop in employment is unprecedented."