FARMINGTON — With an unemployment rate of 8.3% in March, New Mexico has sunk to the bottom of the nine-state Southwest region, tied with California for the highest percentage of jobless workers. The monthly Labor Market Review produced by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions on April 23 reveals that the state's efforts to emerge from the COVID-19-induced recession are trailing those of other states in the region. New Mexico's unemployment rate has improved slightly since rising to 8.7% in January, but it has fallen behind its neighboring states since ranking sixth in the region in December. Utah has the lowest unemployment rate in the region at 2.9%, followed by Oklahoma (4.2%), Wyoming (5.3%), Colorado (6.4%), Arizona (6.7%), Texas (6.9%) and Nevada (8.1%). California and New Mexico tied for eighth.