Colorado’s unemployment rate in February was 7.8 percent, unchanged from January’s 7.8 percent, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
In a report released today, the agency said the national unemployment rate was also unchanged over the same period at 8.3 percent.
The 7.8 percent unemployment rate was based on a survey of households.
The report said that employers in Colorado added 4,700 nonfarm payroll jobs from January to February for a total of 2,288,900 nonfarm payroll jobs, according to a survey of business establishments. Private sector payroll jobs increased 2,700 and government increased 2,000.
The largest private-sector job gains were in education and health services, and trade, transportation and utilities. The largest decline was in financial activities.
Over the year, the unemployment rate is down eight-tenths of a percentage point from 8.6 percent in February 2011 .
The number of Coloradans participating in the labor force increased 7,500, total employment increased 29,300 and the number of unemployed decreased 21,800.
The national unemployment rate declined from 9.0 to 8.3 percent from February 2011 to February 2012 .
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter@HowardPankratz
