Metro Denver’s economy grew at the fastest pace of any major metro area in the United States between the second and third quarters, even racing ahead of regional rival Salt Lake City, according to the from the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings.
Economic output in metro Denver surged 1.5 percent between the second and third quarters, nearly double the 0.8 percent increase reported nationally in the same period.
“In a shift, Utah’s metro areas appear to be ceding their position as the fastest growers in the region,” the report’s authors said.
Utah’s outperformance economically versus Colorado .
Salt Lake City reported a still robust 1.1 percent gain and had a commensurate 1 percent jump in employment, the best among large metros that Brookings tracks.
Metro Denver didn’t translate its more robust economic activity into jobs as readily. Employment rose 0.7 percent, or less than half the gain in output, which represents the values of all the goods and services generated.
One unknown for 2015 is what impact collapsing oil prices will have in the region. The concentration of , according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Come what may, the Denver economy will be absorbing any blows with accelerating momentum. That can’t be said for Albuquerque and Ogden, Utah, the only two out of 10 major metros in the mountain states that were showing signs of stalling in the third quarter.
One of the big surprises in the report was Colorado Springs, where economic output surged 1.2 percent between the second and third quarters after posting a 0.3 percent decline between the first and second quarters.
Job growth there remained flat, but the city had the steepest drop in its unemployment rate of the major metro areas it tracks, Brookings reports.
“The unemployment rate fell by 1.0 percentage points — faster than it has in at least one year and faster than in any other major metro area in the country,” the report said.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aldosvaldi
