Economy & Economic Development  January 26, 2016

Region’s unemployment rates continued downward trend in December

Both Boulder and Broomfield counties logged 15-year lows for unemployment in December, while Larimer and Weld hung close to 14-year lows set just months earlier.

That’s according to a report released Tuesday by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, which derives its figures from a monthly survey of households.

Boulder County’s unemployment rate in December dipped to 2.6 percent, tying its mark from September. The county’s jobless rate hadn’t been lower for December or any other month since December 2000 when it hit 2 percent. In all, the county had 170,017 people employed and 4,603 looking for work in December. Boulder County’s rate was down from 2.8 percent in November and 3.3 percent in December 2014.

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Broomfield County’s rate of 2.8 percent also had not been lower since December 2000 when it hit 2.2 percent. Broomfield had 32,624 people employed and 948 seeking jobs. Unemployment there was down from 3 percent in November and 3.5 percent a year earlier.

Larimer County in December also had a 2.8 percent rate, just off the 2.7 mark in September that had been the county’s lowest since early 2001.  Larimer had 172,982 people employed and 5,033 looking for work. The rate was down a tick from 2.9 percent in November and 3.5 percent one year earlier.

Weld, which hit its own 14-year low in October at 3.3 percent, had unemployment of 3.3 percent in December. That was down from 3.4 percent in November and 3.7 percent one year earlier. The county had 145,705 people employed and 4,958 looking for jobs.

The continued strength locally came as Colorado as a whole saw its unemployment rate dip one-tenth of a percentage point from November to 3.5 percent in December — the state’s lowest mark since April 2007.

Colorado added 10,700 nonfarm payroll jobs from November to December, according to a survey of business establishments, to bring the state’s total to 2,539,400. That mark was up 46,600 from a year earlier. The largest December gains came in construction, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing, while the only decline for the month was in the mining and logging sector, which includes the oil and gas industry.

The national unemployment rate, meanwhile, was 5 percent in December, down from 5.6 percent a year earlier.

Both Boulder and Broomfield counties logged 15-year lows for unemployment in December, while Larimer and Weld hung close to 14-year lows set just months earlier.

That’s according to a report released Tuesday by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, which derives its figures from a monthly survey of households.

Boulder County’s unemployment rate in December dipped to 2.6 percent, tying its mark from September. The county’s jobless rate hadn’t been lower for December or any other month since December 2000 when it hit 2 percent. In all, the county had 170,017 people employed and 4,603 looking for work in December. Boulder…

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