Big I affects UNM enrollment

Larry Waldman of UNM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research said the University’s enrollment will likely increase when New Mexico’s minor construction boom is over.

Waldman said the economy will suffer when many of the 25,000 construction workers — who now live, sleep and eat in the greater-Albuquerque area — leave the state once their work is done.

“Come middle of next year, things are going down because the Big I guys are packing up and leaving,” he said.

Waldman said if the economy weakens, more people will enroll at UNM because of a lack of well-paying jobs that do not require a college degree.

Growth in construction employment increased 4.6 percent in the last quarter of 2000 — the largest quarterly increase since 1995, according to a recent UNM news release. Intel and Phillips are contributing to the increase as well as the Big-I construction.

Waldman said the national economy was in recession in 1995 and that many Californians moved to New Mexico for employment during that time. He said Intel had an employee expansion and the state had a housing boom that created a lot of jobs.

“It was a real boom period for both Albuquerque and New Mexico,” he said.

Waldman said the Big-I construction won’t have a negative affect on enrollment during its construction.

“It slows things down and may keep some people from getting to their classes, but those who really want to go to class will go,” he said.

He said that Student Union Building renovation will not have a major impact on the economy because it is only a few hundred jobs out of about 25,000. He said the construction of the building probably won’t decrease enrollment, though it can make the dining experience uncomfortable.

New Mexico will continue to grow through 2002 due to construction, manufacturing and services, transportation, communications and utilities, according to a UNM press release. It states several thousand call-center jobs in the non-metro area are expected as well as increased manufacturing in Hobbs and Deming, though the Phelps-Dodge copper mining and smelting operation is at risk of closure due to high electricity costs, among other things.