Colorado employers added 19,500 workers in January, including 5,100 in the troubled construction industry, according to state figures released Tuesday. The gains brought Colorado nonfarm employment to its highest level in three years. The state also reported a one-tenth percentage-point drop in unemployment to 7.8 percent, the rate’s fifth consecutive monthly decline.
“We are seeing solid progress in the recovery,” said Colorado Department of Labor and Employment economist Alexandra Hall.
Colorado has added almost half of the jobs it lost during the downturn, Hall said. The state lost 151,600 jobs from April 2008 to January 2010 but has since recouped 75,600 jobs, she said.
The construction industry was hit particularly hard during the downturn and has been slow to rebound.
“This is the first time in four years that construction is showing growth over the year,” Hall said. “That is positive news. It tells us we are seeing a turnaround in construction. We’ve been waiting a long, long time for that.”
Construction employment in Colorado jumped to 117,800 in January from 112,700 in December. Construction jobs peaked before the downturn at 170,100 in July 2007.
Christina Presley, Colorado division president of Meritage Homes, said the homebuilder is hiring again.
“Home sales for the first quarter of this year have been far beyond our expectations. We have open positions, including a couple of construction managers,” she said.
Leisure and hospitality gained 3,900 jobs in January. Jamie Hyndman, 24, is one of the newly hired.
She works as a personal vacation adviser for Inspirato, a luxury destination vacation company in downtown Denver. Started in 2011, Inspirato has more than 120 employees.
Hyndman moved to Colorado from Texas two years ago and worked for a large hospitality company, which ultimately restructured. Hyndman said that almost immediately, she was contacted by a recruiter from Inspirato, interviewed and hired.
“I was very happy to get a job but very happy to get this one,” she said. “The job offers security, being able to plan for the future and being able to pay off student loans.”
Tuesday’s report said the number of people actively participating in the labor force decreased by 3,900 to 2.73 million. Total employment, from the labor-force survey, decreased 1,900 to 2.52 million, causing the number of unemployed to decline by 2,000.
The state’s unemployment numbers are based on a survey of the labor force. Employment figures come from a survey of employers in the private and public sectors.
The national unemployment rate declined two-tenths of a percentage point over the same period to 8.3 percent.
The department said Colorado employers added 19,500 nonfarm jobs from December to January for a total of 2.28 million jobs, according to the survey of establishments. Private-sector payroll jobs rose by 22,500, and government decreased by 3,000.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or
