Employment levels in Colorado typically fell this quarter dropping 10,654 or 0.5%. The after Christmas letdown in the retail market, holiday break for schools and cold weather effecting Construction, Agriculture, Mining and Government were factors contributing to the employment decline. Many positive forces were in place during the quarter offsetting to some degree the losses. The height of the ski and tax season added many employees during the quarter. In addition, the strength of the economy and continued low interest rates has positively influenced employment levels in Colorado. Services reported the strongest employment increase in absolute numbers adding 6070, although growth was only 1.0%. Employment advances in Recreation & Amusements and Hotels & Lodging because of the ski season created most of the quarterly strength. In percentages, TCPU experienced the largest gain up 3.4% adding 4334 employees. Gains were influenced by SIC changes from the Services industry. The Retail industry suffered the largest loss dropping by 6534 employees. The 1.6% decrease was affected by the post Christmas shopping decline. Agriculture had the largest quarterly percent decline, down 13.3%. This industry lost 3778 employees as the growing season came to a halt due to the weather.

Annually, Colorado’s economy was still very strong reflecting a growth rate of 3.8% over a year ago and adding 75,683 employees. Economic indicators prevalent this quarter were increased personal income, strong consumer spending and confidence, low unemployment and low inflation. Employment growth in Colorado continues to be driven by Services up 22,654 employees with almost one third of the total annual gain. In terms of percent Construction growth was strongest, up 12.6% generating 14,957 employees due to low interest rates. Mining and Manufacturing lost employment over the year falling by 540 and 2700 employees, respectively. Low commodity prices caused the decline in Mining while layoffs and cutbacks affected Manufacturing.

Typically one third of employers covered by unemployment insurance are surveyed each year to determine that they are properly classified by:

This year one half of employers were selected by Federal Identification number (FEIN) to verify SIC and county codes. SIC or county changes are made to first quarter data only, but the impact of those changes may be evident throughout the year, particularly when data are compared to the previous year. All industry groups are affected as FEIN’s cross industry categories and a business may be moved from one industry into any other industry for proper classification. The impact of change is determined by the overall SIC change in employment and wage in each industry