Unless you are a UNM student, the job market doesn’t look good these days.
Though New Mexico’s unemployment rate is a staggering 8 percent, the University employs 5,050 students, a 1 percent increase from 2008, said Connie Dennison, of UNM’s Office of Institutional Research. She said last year the University employed 5,123 students.
“This includes main campus, Health Sciences Center, and the branches,” she said. “This is both undergraduate and graduate student employees.”
Student employment remained constant despite recent budget slashes, said Brian Malone, director of Financial Services. He said many students use work-study, and the federal government allocated more than $2 million in work-study funds for this aid year while the state government chipped in about $1.5 million.
So while the job market outside the University has tanked, student employment at UNM has pretty much stayed the same, a consistency student employee Shonetta Henry said she appreciates.
“Part of the appeal is being able to multitask, so it could be worse,” she said.
Malone said there is no limit to how many students can be hired at any given time.
“The number would depend on individual department’s hiring activity,” he said. “We have a limit on how much money we can spend on work-study programs, but student employment comes down to an aggregate of department-by-department decisions.”
With budget cuts, Malone said, departments might scale back on hiring student employees.
“Student employment would most likely be the fluctuating figure,” he said. “Student employment jobs are not paid through federal or state work-study money, and are usually paid 100 percent through department funds.”
Student David Reza said he is unsatisfied with the pay compared to what the job requires, but the position’s flexibility offsets his grievances.
“I believe the pay is low compared to other jobs I’ve had in the past …” he said. “The job is no more easy or difficult than any other office job; it is just staying on top of things, making sure things are in order and providing services when it comes to our little area.”
And student employee Alexander Evans said UNM jobs are attractive because of their flexibility, networking opportunities and decent pay.
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“I get paid $8 an hour, which I consider good for what I am expected to do,” he said. “I am a student success leader, so I help students with any kind of service they need. I used to work at the library, which was pretty easy. Here it is not more difficult, but the mental effort is higher.”
