Colorado’s unemployment rate is outpacing the national rate of unemployment.
On Friday, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment announced that the number of jobs across the state grew by 11,000 from May to June, reaching 2,368,300. The state unemployment rate now stands at 7 percent; nationwide the rate is 7.6 percent.
The local news was good, too: In June, unemployment in La Plata County fell to 6.1 percent – down from 6.9 percent in June 2012.
The data has not been adjusted to reflect seasonal changes in employment, for instance, the teachers and students who have temporarily entered the job market but are likely to leave it once school begins in August.
Average salaries also increased, with the mean salary for people on the payroll of private entities (except for those who work on farms) jumping 90 cents from an average of $24.50 to $25.40.
Alexandra Hall, chief economist for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, said the data reflected Colorado’s comparatively robust recovery from the recession.
“Other states in our region are growing, just a little slower paced,” Hall said, emphasizing that while month-to-month growth can be a volatile measure of job growth – meaning out of 50 states, Colorado might fall to fifth place or leap to first in July – “Colorado has consistently been one of the fastest growing states in the nation for some time now,” she said.
Statewide, Hall said, one of the sectors that showed the strongest growth was business professional services – a category that includes many professions, including janitors, lawyers, accountants and engineers – and that the tourist-oriented sector of “leisure and hospitality” wasn’t far behind.
She also said construction – which faltered terribly after the recession – had shown growth, an important bellwether of the state’s overall economic health.
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
