new mexico’s unemployment rate continues to drop – and some people in politics are crowing about it – but stuart dyson has looked longer and deeper at the latest numbers. he’s here to tell us what he found. not much to crow about here – what’s becoming painfully obvious is that the official unemployment rate is an increasingly unreliable picture of what’s going on in the economy. the numbers for june show new mexico down slightly from may with 6 point 8 percent jobless – while the mountain west is up close to 9 percent and the national rate remains a little over 9 percent. the republican party gives governor martinez credit for the lower unemployment rate. state chairman monty newman stating it’s ” a testament to the successful policies and pro-economic growth agenda of governor martinez.” but let’s look at the rest of the picture – the same report from the us department of labor shows new mexico continuing to lose jobs – more than 4 thousand gone from may to june.- a lot of them construction jobs – no surprise to donna chavez. ” i was working with heavy equipment – construction equipment. q: really – and construction just sorta tanked didn’t it? a: very much so – yes – a lot of layoffs. q: so you have to make a transition to something else? a: mmm-hmm. trying to go into like a little bit of administrative assistance.” and new mexico’s labor force itself is shrinking – that’s people with jobs or looking for jobs – down about 6 thousand from may – 15 thousand from last …