Colorado’s economy added 19,500 nonfarm jobs in December, finishing the year on solid footing despite head winds.
“It performed stronger than most people would have expected,” said Joseph Winter, a senior economist with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
The strong hiring wave pushed the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate down to 4 percent, the best level recorded since August 2001 and better than the U.S. unemployment rate of 4.5 percent.
Higher interest rates and a sagging housing market along the Front Range didn’t derail hiring. Payroll gains in December pretty much matched December 2005 levels.
Wage data were not part of the report. However, the 2007 Colorado Business Economic Outlook from the University of Colorado at Boulder is calling for per capita personal income in the state to rise from $39,107 in 2006 to $40,749 in 2007, a 4.2 percent gain that should outpace inflation.
Eight of the 11 job sectors in the state posted gains for December. Of the 19,500 jobs added last month, 12,000 came in leisure and hospitality and 6,900 in trade, transportation and utilities – a typical seasonal pattern.
Ski resorts hire thousands of seasonal workers. This season could be a record-setter in skier visits.
Between Oct. 13 and Dec. 31, Colorado ski resorts recorded 3.29 million visits, about 207,000 more visits than during the same period a year ago, said Molly Cuffe, spokeswoman with Colorado Ski Country USA.
Holiday hiring by retailers drove gains in trade, transportation and utilities, although many of those hires may be let go by the end of January.
Government and construction suffered employment declines as teachers left for winter break and construction crews curtailed activity.
The information sector also continued to shed more jobs than it created both in December and for the year, failing to break a pattern of losses stretching back to the end of the tech and telecom boom in 2000 and 2001.
For all of 2006, Colorado added 43,500 nonfarm payroll jobs, representing a 1.9 percent rate of job growth. The final tally for 2006 will likely change once the state revises its numbers in March, Winter cautioned.
Natural resources and mining contributed 9 percent of the state’s nonfarm jobs gained in 2006, despite that sector’s representing about 1 percent of the state’s job base.
Not adjusting for seasonality, the state’s unemployment rate was 3.9 percent. Grand Junction’s unemployment rate registered 3.2 percent in December, while Boulder-Longmont ran at 3.3 percent.
Reduced migration to the state by job seekers is keeping the state’s labor market tight, Winter said, adding that a sustained unemployment rate below 4 percent could leave employers scrambling.
“Too much under that and you are starting to talk about seriously tight labor markets,” Winter said.
Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com.
19,500
Nonfarm jobs added to the Colorado economy in December, 12,000 in the leisure-and-hospitality sector
43,500
Nonfarm jobs created in Colorado during 2006, a 1.9 percent rate of increase
1,500
Construction jobs lost during December, closing a year in which 3,100 were added in the sector
4%
Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, the state’s best since August 2001
