Colorado’s energy industry shed nearly 19 percent of its workforce when comparing January 2016 to the same month last year.
But the loss of 6,700 jobs across oil and gas and mining hasn’t been enough to knock the state off a historic hot employment streak.
The state added 5,200 nonfarm payroll jobs — 4,300 in the private sector, 900 in government — during January, according to preliminary employment estimates released by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Year-over-year, the employment market is up 69,100 jobs.
January marked the 51st consecutive month of payroll jobs growth.
“The labor market is in the best place it possibly could be to absorb those jobs,” said Alexandra Hall, Colorado’s chief economist.
A survey of households for the month showed increases in the labor force and total employment, which helped to push the unemployment rate to 3.2 percent, down 0.3 percentage points from December and 1.7 percentage points from January 2015.
The state’s unemployment rate is at its lowest level since April 2001, state labor officials said.
Nationally, unemployment declined to 4.9 percent from 5.7 percent in January 2015.
The monthly labor estimates are based on two surveys — one of businesses and government agencies, which measures jobs by work site; and the household survey, which measures employment by household. The data are often revised as new information becomes available.
Colorado’s 2015 job growth was revised upward to 3.1 percent from the previously published 2.3 percent. Most recently, Colorado’s third-quarter 2015 employment numbers were revised upward.
While the state’s growth rate has slowed from 2014 — which boasted a 3.5 percent rate — it continues to outpace the nation, and it marked the first time since the dot-com boom that Colorado recorded back-to-back years of employment growth of at least 3 percent, Hall said.
The U.S. annual payroll jobs growth rate in 2015 was 2.1 percent.
Colorado’s diversified labor market has helped to insulate the state from the energy industry’s fallout, said Brian Lewandowski, associate director for the Business Research Division at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business.
The six states that recorded employment losses year-over-year in January — Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming — also are among the most energy-intensive in the nation, he said.
Lewandowski noted areas such as Greeley, which resembles North Dakota in that energy production accounts for about 15 percent of its GDP, and Weld County are holding up relatively well. This he attributed to proximity to metropolitan areas and a diversification in other industries.
Statewide, strong job growth in professional and business services, tourism and technology have helped to land Colorado as the anomaly among energy-intensive states, he said.
Boulder-based TapInfluence, a digital promoter for brands, has nearly doubled its staff in the year since CEO Promise Phelon joined. She said that hiring engineers is difficult everywhere. The company just opened its first office outside of Colorado — in Silicon Valley.
“I started in April, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect this industry to grow as fast as it did. That’s why we’re making this play,” said Phe lon.
The company currently employs about 50 people. Phelon anticipates the California office will hire seven to 10 people in the next quarter. By offering two locations, Phelon says her team has more flexibility.
“I liken this to the strategy of hire and retain. We see Google and others having a presence in both locations,” Phelon said. “This is a retention play. I want my engineers in the Bay Area to come out here and go skiing. And I want my guys here to work with engineers in the Bay Area. I’m committed to the Front Range, which has the fastest-growing millennial population.”
Staff writer Tamara Chuang contributed to this report.
Alicia Wallace: 303-954-1939, awallace@denverpost.com or @aliciawallace
