Colorado’s unemployment rate remains stable; Boulder County is the lowest in the state – BizWest

DENVER – Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained stable in July at 6.1%, while the national unemployment rate fell five-tenths of a percentage point to 5.4%.

The data for determining the unemployment rate in Colorado comes from a household survey called the Current Population Survey and includes the self-employed, independent contractors, farm workers as well as traditional wage earners.

Boulder County posted the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 4.9% in July, compared to 5% for Broomfield, 5.1% for Larimer and 6.1% for Weld County.

Highlights of the survey included:

• Colorado’s labor force declined by 2,800 in July to 3,193,600. The share of Coloradans participating in the labor force was 68.3% in July, slightly below the previous labor force participation rate. the February 2020 pandemic by 68.7%.
• The counties in Colorado with the highest unemployment rates in July were: Pueblo (8.6%), Huerfano (8.4%), Las Animas (7.0%), Adams (6.8%) and Gilpin (6.8%). County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted and are directly comparable to Colorado’s uncorrected rate of 5.9% in July.

The state’s Department of Labor and Employment also surveys employers to determine the number of non-farm jobs in the state. The most recent employer survey noted that Colorado added 14,800 non-farm jobs from June to July for a total of 2,733,600 jobs. Salaried private sector jobs increased by 8,500 and the government added 6,300 jobs. In the past 15 months, Colorado has recovered 290,400 of the 375,800 non-farm wage jobs lost between February and April of last year, the CDLE said. This translates into a job recovery rate of 77.3%, which exceeds the US rate of 74.5%.

The employment sectors with the most job gains were professional and business services with around 5,000 additional jobs and hospitality with around 4,300.

Since July 2020, non-farm payroll jobs have increased by 140,500, with the private sector increasing by 124,000 jobs and the government adding an additional 16,500 jobs.

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