Metro Denver’s labor force is only growing at one quarter of last year’s pace, and not keeping up with hiring this year, according to a report from the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation.
“New and expanding companies in metro Denver are facing a tight labor market,” EDC chief economist Patty Silverstein said in her .
Metro Denver’s labor force grew 1.6 percent last year to 1.64 million workers, but is growing only 0.4 percent this year, Silverstein estimates. That would translate into an additional 6,560 workers in the labor force, during a year when employers are on track to add 49,500 new jobs.
Silverstein said the number of unemployed workers is down by 67,500 this year. She predicts the metro Denver unemployment rate will average 4.1 percent this year, down from a 4.8 percent in 2014. That would be the lowest annual unemployment rate since 2007, right before the recession hit.
