In a Garner Economics, LLC report released today, Las Cruces and El Paso were in the top 25% of 372 metro areas nationwide whose employment was rebounding to near pre-recession levels. The Garner report compared the September 2010 employment to the previous five-year September peak employment.

The employment difference for the Las Cruces NM MSA was -0.3% and the El Paso TX MSA was -2.1%.  In the report, Las Cruces is the only metro in New Mexico that had a year-over-year employment growth while El Paso was one of 18 metros in Texas who are near their pre-recession peak.

The November report follows a September 2010 Garner report that ranked Las Cruces 8th among the 16 metros that set new July employment numbers as compared to the previous five-years.