DENVER—Colorado’s unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a percentage point to 4.2 percent in January as the labor market weakened slightly, state labor officials said Tuesday.
The number of Coloradans with jobs rose by 14,500 while the number of unemployed rose by 7,100, the state Department of Labor and Employment said.
Total employment in January was 74,000 higher than a year earlier, but about 116,000 couldn’t find work, up from about 104,000 a year ago.
“Colorado continues to display modest employment gains in the face of a national economy seemingly on the verge of contraction,” said Don Mares, the department director.
The national unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.9 percent in January.
The department also said its revised report on 2007 largely erased large increases in unemployment originally reported late last year.
After revision, adjusted unemployment rates stayed essentially flat the final four months of the year.
The department originally reported increases of one-tenth of a percentage point in September and four-tenths in both November and December.
The October rate had showed a decline of two-tenths of a percentage point.
Mares said the state’s major labor indicators were mostly positive in 2007, with an average annual jobless rate of 3.8 percent, down from 4.3 percent in 2006.
The 2007 average was the lowest since 2.7 percent in 2000.
Total employment grew by 65,700 last year while the average number of unemployed residents dropped by 11,600.
