Colorado logged its 33rd consecutive month of job growth in July and unemployment dipped to 5.3 percent, the ninth-lowest rate in the country.
The state last hit 5.3 percent unemployment in October 2008.
In June, the state unemployment rate was 5.5 percent. Since then, Colorado has added 5,500 non-farm payroll jobs, raising the total to nearly 2.5 million jobs, the fifth-fastest job increase in the United States.
“Employment gains and the improving labor market are pretty widespread across the state,” said Alexandra Hall, chief economist for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
Until recently, Colorado typically ranked between 23rd and 26th for unemployment rates, she said.
“We’ve moved up, improving our unemployment rate relative to other states as our economy improves and we absorb more people back into the labor market and add jobs at a healthy pace,” Hall said, noting that job growth in the state is floating between a healthy 2.7 percent and 3 percent.
For the month, private-sector payroll jobs increased 6,000, and government jobs decreased 500. Hall said nothing suggests any kind of change in the job growth pattern the rest of the year.
The largest over-the-month private-sector job gains were in education and health services, up 2,900; construction, up 1,600; and professional and business services, up 1,500.
Leisure and hospitality, which typically is robust in July, lost 2,100 jobs, the largest over-the-month decline for any sector.
“We had really late snows and we’ve had a really wet year,” she said. “It is possible that the level of the mud in the high country and the moisture delayed some of the recreational activities that occur in the summertime.”
Colorado was one of eight states to log an unemployment decline, according to Broomfield economist Gary Horvath. Twelve states and the District of Columbia were unchanged, while the others posted slight upticks.
“At this point, many economists are pointing to stronger growth in the second half of the year for the U.S., which should point to a good year for Colorado, particularly retail and tourism in Colorado,” said Horvath. He noted, however, that with the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed trending down, critical labor shortages are developing in Colorado in many occupations.
“This is particularly critical to high-tech industries,” Horvath said. “In addition, it is impacting all industries in northern Colorado, which is experiencing rapid growth as a result of the extractive (oil and gas) boom.”
The unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in the tech-heavy regions of Boulder-Longmont and Fort Collins-Loveland, compared with 5.4 percent in Greeley and 5.2 percent in Denver-Aurora, the state reported.
Horvath said workers are being poached from other companies and industries, which will ultimately drive wages up. He said the Colorado construction market still appears to be solid and the value of residential housing is growing, although at a slower rate than last year.
The Associated General Contractors of America said Monday that Colorado was one of 39 states where July construction employment increased year over year. Colorado and Texas are two of the states facing worker shortages.
Colorado had 135,600 people employed in construction in July, up from 127,900 in July 2013.
In its report Monday, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment said that over the year, non-farm payroll jobs increased 65,600. Private-sector payroll jobs increased 58,300, and government jobs increased 7,300.
The largest private-sector job gains were in education and health services, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/howardpankratz
