July 18, 2008

Jobless rate in state highest since 2005

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

Unemployment stood at 5.1% in June, up from 4.9% in May

Colorado’s unemployment rate ticked up to 5.1 percent in June from 4.9 percent in May. It’s the highest rate since September 2005.

The number is also significantly worse than one year ago, when Colorado unemployment was 3.7 percent.

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment notes that June is generally a month of rising unemployment throughout Colorado as student workers enter the job market. The department said that pattern held true as 49 of Colorado’s 64 counties recorded higher unemployment rates.

Government job-trackers at the state and federal level release unemployment rates, which are based on surveys of workers as well as a separate survey of employers that yields the official job-creation numbers.

Colorado had 2,389,400 jobs in June, 1.34 percent above June 2007 numbers, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The year-over-year rate of growth has slowed in eight of the past nine months, dating back to October. In September 2007, the number of Colorado jobs was 2.49 percent higher than September 2006, and job growth remained above 2 percent until March.

“Although employment growth has been positive, it has been too modest to absorb the state’s expanding labor force,” Donald J. Mares, executive director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, said in a statement.

The state labor department said the largest contributor to job growth has been the government sector, which showed a gain of 10,200 jobs and accounted for roughly one-third of net job gains since last June.

Education and health services gained 9,700 positions, while professional and business services, trade, transportation and utilities, and leisure and hospitality each added more than 6,000 new workers since last June. Natural resources and mining employment rose 3,200, and other services trended up 1,800.

Two industries susceptible to the turmoil in the housing and credit markets - construction and financial services - fell 5,000 and 1,700, respectively, over the past year. Manufacturing, down 4,800, and information services, off 1,700, also shed jobs in the past 12 months.

Colorado’s best and worst

Counties with lowest June unemployment rates: * Yuma 2.8 percent

* Cheyenne 2.8 percent

Counties with highest June unemployment rates: * Costilla 9.2 percent

* Conejos 8.3 percent

Published in the Rocky Mountain News
by David Milstead
July 18, 2008