QUARTERLY As expected, Government employment fell over the quarter declining by 3.1% and losing 9871 employees. Seasonal closings of schools for summer vacation consistently affect lowered employment figures during third quarter. Local government, which contains most of the schools, suffered the largest loss dropping by 10,404 employees. Employment in Education dropped by 14,251. Seasonal hiring for summer recreation programs, municipal building and grounds maintenance and road paving projects off set education losses. Amusement & Recreation employment rose by 796. Employment in General Government rose by 2693. A slight gain was seen in Health Services up 143 due to staff increases in hospitals. While state Education employment fell by 712 for the summer and General Government fell by 128 due to the end of the legislative session, hiring for the State Fair, summer staffing at state parks and the opening of a new correctional facility offset losses causing a small loss of 98 in State Government. Federal government employment rose by 632. Seasonal staffing for National Parks Service and the US Department of Agriculture generated most of the gain. Hiring for the start up of the 2000 Census added 160. ANNUAL Annually, Government employment grew 2.4% adding 7112 employees. Local government reported the largest annual increase up 4060 employees. Expansions in school employment, which increased by 2586, were the major growth element of Local government. Boulder, El Paso, Arapahoe and Adams counties reported the largest gains in education employment over the year. General Government, up 1410 employees reflected expansions necessitated by the growing Colorado population. State government reported an increase of 2264 employees. Education picked up 1211 new employees with more than half of the growth defined by increases in state colleges and universities. Justice, Public Order & Safety added 850 employees over the year. Its major growth component was correctional institutions up 658 employees. The opening of a new facility in Logan County added 417 and expansions at existing facilities created the remainder of the gain. Federal government lost 211 employees. Closure of Fitzsimmons and cutbacks at all VA hospitals caused a loss of 368. Intermittent Census workers, higher in 3Q98, caused a drop of 178 this year. Increases at the Postal Service adding 144 and expansions at the Denver Mint added 152 offsetting losses.
Colorado Employment and Wages (ES202) Third Quarter 1999
