The last time Colorado’s job machine seized up as severely as it has in the past year was in late 1943 and early 1944.
War mobilization efforts created huge swings in hiring and layoffs in the state back then, especially at one key employer — the Remington Arms Co.
Remington received a commission to build a $52 million plant west of Denver in January 1941. By the summer of 1943, the plant employed 19,500 workers, about 6 percent of the nonfarm jobs in the state, according to the history book “Colorado and Its People.”
In labor records that go back to 1939, 1942 was the best year for job growth in Colorado, with an increase of 18.3 percent.
But by August 1944, the ordinance plant was idle, contributing to a 5.3 percent decline in nonfarm jobs that year, the worst on record since 1939.
Unlike the current job loss of 4.4 percent, the heavy losses in the 1940s didn’t derail the state economy, said Stephen Leonard, a history professor at Metropolitan State College.
Sales tax receipts continued to grow over the period, and the state started adding jobs again in 1945.
