DENVER—Colorado’s unemployment rose slightly in May, cutting short a downward trend that some pointed to as hope for a recovery.
State labor officials said Friday that Colorado’s seasonally adjusted rate was 7.6 percent in May, up from 7.4 percent in April. In May of last year, Colorado’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent.
April’s rate was the first monthly decline in unemployment since 2007.
Officials say Colorado is still better off than much of the country. The national unemployment rate reported Friday was 9.4 percent, with eight states setting record highs and only two states not showing increases.
The West region’s unemployment rate climbed above 10 percent, the first time the regional threshold has been broken in about 25 years.
Last month, Colorado shed about 21,000 jobs, to 2,513,900. In May of last year, Colorado had 2,597,600 working residents.
State labor officials said unemployment rates usually go up in May, when seasonal ski resort workers look for new jobs. About 7,600 jobs were lost in leisure and hospitality.
Manufacturing employment also fell, down 1,900 jobs, and the logging and mining sector dropped for the sixth consecutive month, shedding 900 jobs.
The biggest losses in the past year came in the category of professional and business services, which is down 15.6 percent from May of 2008, a loss of 25,800 jobs.
Cheyenne County has the lowest rate in the Colorado at 3.2 percent while Dolores County has the highest, 14.9 percent.
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