Boulder Valley, Northern Colorado unemployment continues historic plummet

DENVER — Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was flat between March and April, hanging steady at 2.8%.

The state’s rate, which Colorado Department of Labor and Employment economist Ryan Gedney called “historic” for its prolonged low level, has been below 3% for a year straight and remains at or below pre-COVID-19 era levels. 

The Centennial State continues outpacing the nation, which posted an April jobless rate of 3.4%, down from 3.5% the prior month. 

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Counties in the Boulder Valley outperformed both the state and national averages, CDLE data released Friday shows.

Larimer and Boulder counties led the way in April with rates of 2.1%, down from 2.4% in March in Larimer County and from 2.3% in Boulder County.

Broomfield County’s jobless rate fell from 2.4% in March to 2.3% last month, while Weld County’s rate fell from 2.8% to 2.5% over the same period.

While the unemployment figures would indicate that Larimer and Boulder counties are slightly outperforming their neighbors, in practice, the difference is negligible, Gedney said. “Really, there’s no real difference between those rates …(and) really statistically equal to each other.”

The number of individuals employed in Colorado grew by 9,300 in April to nearly 3.15 million, or 66.7% of the state’s working-age population, according to CDLE. The employment-population ratio in April surpassed the pre-pandemic rate of 66.6% in February 2020

Over the year, the average workweek for Colorado workers increased from 33.3 to 33.5 hours, while average hourly earnings grew from $34.24 to $35.79, higher than the national average of $33.36.