Unemployment down but not out

August numbers drop a bit after spiking in June

A Weld County agency that aims to match employees with employers would prefer not to be so busy.

The county’s employment center saw a 62 percent increase in business from 2001 to 2002.

But while the number of open positions has remained steady, the labor force has increased, said Linda Perez, employment center manager for the county.

In fact, Weld County’s labor force grew more than 7,000 compared to last year’s figures, reaching 95,418 in August.

“Proportionally, there’s not a large number of unemployed,” Perez said.

Of the 13,000 people who registered with Weld County’s employment service this year, only 4,500 were on unemployment. Another 1,200 were employed but looking for something different.

The latest available statistics show Weld’s monthly unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percent in August, down from July’s 5.4 rate, but still a significant increase compared with last August’s 3.9 percent rate.

Like its neighbor, Larimer County, Weld has fared better than the rest of the United States but followed the national roller-coaster ride that reached a 2001 high in September. That ride subsided through the 2001 holiday season, then peaked in early 2002, only to decrease for a few months, then spike again in June — culminating with slight decreases through August.

Jobs are out there

“I don’t want to sound too discouraging,´ said Maureen Harter, employment center manager for Larimer County. “There are jobs out there, but maybe people will have to transition a bit. They might have to take a step down or a step back, but hopefully they’ll find something and then move forward again.”

While both counties’ employment centers provide free resources for anyone looking for a job, those seeking unemployment payments are required to register.

Harter said 444 Larimer County residents initiated registration in September as part of the unemployment rules. The agency saw an additional 673 registrants who were not claimants.

In Larimer County, where the labor pool grew by almost 6,000, the number of open positions decreased by at least 10 percent compared to this time last year, Harter said.

“There’s a highly qualified pool for a lot of positions,” Harter said “Some employers, who a year and a half ago were lucky to get 10 qualified applicants, are now getting 70 or 80.”

Harter said she has seen more applicants looking for human resources, marketing, sales and assembly work.

The industries that are looking to hire are the same ones that always are, she said, including retail (especially moving into the holiday season), clerical workers, truck drivers, janitorial positions and the medical field in general.

And with all the recent headlines featuring high-tech companies’ layoffs, it’s not surprising that the biggest regional employment glut is in the technology sector.

Computer programmers and technicians, hardware and software engineers and Web designers make up a large portion of the employee pool, Harter said.

“We’ve had people pull up roots and move here only to find out that there are no computer jobs here, either,” she said.

Hope for the tech sector?

“Things have moved south for our industry overall,´ said Doug McBride, branch manager of Volt Services Group Technical Division in Fort Collins and Boulder, which specializes in placing technical and engineering positions.

McBride said the regional tech slowdown is a reflection of the global economy.

“Nationally, our company hit the low number of people on assignment in December 2001,” he said. “In Northern Colorado we’ve held our own. The numbers flatlined after December. We haven’t seen head-count increases in the last nine months, but the numbers have held pretty steady.”

McBride said the headhunting aspect of the business has dropped significantly because an increased labor pool enhances the level of available qualified employees. But big companies seem to be turning to independent contractors for services like testing and development.

“It’s a mixed bag,” McBride said.

Heidi Jackson, Fort Collins branch manager for Staffmark Staffing, an employee placement firm, said the clerical and technical side of the business is slow but the demand for industrial employees is starting to pick up.

“Since the beginning of the year it’s been down. It’s gradually coming up but it’s nothing I’d call significant,” she said. “We’re all experiencing the same thing. There are just more people out there looking for less jobs. Hopefully by springtime it will pick up.”

Jackson said the highest demand she’s seen is for entry-level positions in warehousing, general labor and shipping and receiving. “They’re certainly not up, but that’s where we’re seeing a bigger demand,” she said.

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