Colorado’s employment-population ratio fell at the fastest rate in the nation last year as the state lost jobs but population continued to grow.
The ratio — which is the number of employed people divided by the civilian adult population — fell 2.4 points to 62.8 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s the lowest level since at least 1976 and is down from a high of 71.5 in 1998.
The national employment- population ratio was 58.5 percent last year.
Colorado’s civilian adult population grew last year by an estimated 1.6 percent, or about 60,000, according to the BLS. But employment fell by nearly 2.2 percent, or 54,000, as the state economy struggled to recover from the economic downturn.
“In a lot of states, when jobs are in decline you don’t have population growth, but that’s not the case here,” said University of Colorado economist Richard Wobbekind. “Part of that is our state’s amenity package. People still view Colorado as a beautiful and desirable place to be.”
Over the past decade, the state added 634,000 civilian adults but only 148,000 jobs, according to the BLS.
State demographer Elizabeth Garner said population growth from 2000 to 2010 was actually about 12 percent lower than projected, based on recently released census data. That might dampen the BLS numbers, which were based on annually updated estimates projected from the 2000 census.
Greg Griffin: 303-954-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com
