SERVICES

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(70 - 89)

Employment change from last quarter	+ 2.3
Employment change from year ago	+ 4.2
Wage change from year ago	+11.0

QUARTERLY

Quarterly, Services grew 2.3% adding 13,670 employees. Business Services (73), which contains temporary help and computer programming and related computer services, reported the largest sector gain up by 5955 employees. Almost half of the increase in Business Services occurred from increased staffing for computer related service. About 1500 were added through temporary help placement. Hotels & Lodging (70) employment was up by 5529. Seasonal hiring for summer tourism drove increases. Amusement & Recreation (79) added 1175 employees. While ski area employment seasonally declined, other facets of the recreation industry such as golf courses, gambling and amusement parks added employment. Four sectors declined over the quarter: Schools (82) dropped by 375, Personal Services 349, Social Services (83) 385 and Health Services (80) 39. Loses in Schools and Social Services were seasonal and related to the summer closing of schools and many day care facilities. Personal Services declines were due to the end of the tax season. Closure of a psychiatric center and a couple of home health care providers offset gains in other areas of Health Services.
ANNUAL

Employment in the Services industry rose 4.2% over a year ago and added 24,261 employees. Though generating one third of the private sector growth in Colorado, Services employment growth has slowed over the last two quarters and reflects the lowest level of employment gain since first quarter 1996. Business Services (73), which makes up about one half of the Services industry growth, is responsible for some of the slowing due to declines in temporary help services. Annually, Business Services employment grew by 11,811. Growth is dominated by the provision of computer programming and related services and Misc Business Services which covers telemarketing and hotel reservation services. Engineering Services (87) incurred the second largest sector gain adding 3280 employees. Establishments primarily engaged in providing professional engineering, architectural and surveying services constituted 1389 of the gain. Management and business consulting services added 868 to Engineering Services with the balance of the growth in accounting, bookkeeping and research, development and testing. No sectors declined over the year.

Colorado Employment and Wages (ES202) Third Quarter 1998