LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- While unemployment numbers have yet to be released for October, there are numbers for September, and in Dona Ana County, the unemployment rate was 7.7 percent, which is the same percentage statewide. In September of 2008, there was only a 4.2 percent unemployment rate for the county. That means there were roughly 7,000 to 8,000 unemployed people in Dona Ana County and 72,000 without jobs statewide. But there's hope. New Mexico Department of Workforce connections director Richard Wagner said retailers everywhere will be looking to hire seasonal staff for the holidays. Maybe not as many as previous years, but they're still positions that will soon be up for grabs.

“I think we'll probably go higher in the next couple of months and probably after the holidays is when we'll start to see a decline or a decrease in the unemployment rate,” said Wagner.

Convergys telecommunications in Las Cruces will be looking to hire 150 people for its Las Cruces office in the next four months. If you would like to learn more about the job openings, you can do so under the links mentioned section of this Web site.