Colorado unemployment rate falls slightly to 6.6% in January

DENVER — Colorado’s unemployment rate inched lower in the first month of the year, dropping three percentage points from December’s adjusted rate to 6.6% in January.

In its monthly data release, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment said it revised the previous December unemployment rate of 8.4% down to 6.9% primarily due to seasonal adjustments and changes to the state’s methodology after incorporating changes to how the U.S. Census Bureau counts people.

Approximately 21,200 of the 32,000 jobs added during the month came in the leisure and hospitality sector. The industry has been a bellwether for the broader economy across the country since bars, restaurants and travel services have been most impacted by the lockdowns necessitated by the pandemic. Gov. Jared Polis ordered counties in Level Red on the state’s COVID-19 dial to drop to Level Orange, allowing more in-person business operations.

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There were no industries posting significant job losses in the period, but the state is still missing 160,800 jobs that it had from the beginning of 2020.

The state labor agency also estimated that 6,700 residents rejoined the labor force in the month, offsetting the decline in December to mark a one-tenth percentage point increase to 68.6%.

In a call with reporters Monday morning, CDLE senior economist Ryan Gedney said there’s a good possibility for the state’s unemployment rate to steadily drop in the next few months as the vaccine rollout continues, along with warmer weather allowing more outside dining and teachers and school staff returning to in-person teaching in the fall.

“I think it’s reasonable to expect Colorado to follow the U.S. trend in a declining unemployment rate,” he said.

Gedney also mentioned that Boulder County and Weld County are lagging behind most of the state in its job recovery rate due to its reliance on the education and oil-and-gas industries, respectively. Those two cities are at 39% and 28%, respectively.

At the county level, Broomfield County posted a decline from 6.2% in December 2020 to 6% in January with no change in the labor force. Larimer County’s unemployment rate inched down from 6.4% to 6.3% in the period, with approximately 100 job losses pared off with a drop of 223 in labor participation.

Weld County’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.1%.

Boulder County’s unemployment rate rose slightly from 5.8% to 5.9% after reporting 886 lost jobs and about 600 people leaving the labor force.

None of those county-level statistics are adjusted for seasonality, which is notable since the holiday season tends to boost temporary hiring in retail and delivery.

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