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Colorado in 1996


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 Colorado’s economy continued to expand in 1996. The State’s covered employment increased by 60,391 to 1,873,725 jobs on an annual basis. This was an increase of 3.3% compared to an increase of 74,966 or 4.3% the previous year. The annual increase would have been close to 65,000 except for the fact that about 4,000 work study students are no longer being counted at the University of Colorado because they are not covered by unemployment insurance.

 Services accounted for the largest number of new jobs in Colorado increasing by 26,841. Retail Trade and Construction experienced large increases in employment at 8,991 and 9,006 respectively. FIRE increased by 5,257 jobs and Manufacturing employment posted a 4,821 job increase. Mining and Government were the only Divisions to record a decline.

 The number of establishments in Colorado increased by 5,308 to 126,407. There were 5,324 more private and 16 less government establishments in 1996 than 1995. The major division with the largest increase was Services with an increase of 2,564 to 46,056. Within Services, the sector with the largest increase was Business Services which increased by 951 to 9,398. Construction establishments increased by 947 to 14,168. Within construction, the Special trade sector increased by 688 to 9,641 and General Building increased by 242 to 3,626. The growth in the Retail Trade establishments slowed considerably adding 564 compared to 997 the previous year. Within Retail Trade, Eating and Drinking establishments accounted for 54% of the increase. TCPU increased by 251 to 4,871 with the Communication sector increasing by 10.4% to 970 establishments.

 The only major division other than Government to decline was Mining with a drop of 42 establishments to 1,127. Within Mining, Oil & Gas extraction declined by 42 establishments.

 The economic expansion that Colorado has experienced in the 1990’s has varied to a large extent between counties. In San Juan County, employment has decreased by 110 jobs over the past five years. The average employment in 1996 was 245. In Douglas County, employment has increased by 106% or 15,598 jobs since 1991. Douglas County’s average employment increased by 4,441 since 1995 with the addition of the Park Meadows Mall in the latter part of the year.
The county with the largest increase in the average number of jobs is Arapahoe. Employment increased by 14,103 from 1995 to 236,184. Fifty-one percent of the increase was in the services division. Employment in Arapahoe County has increased by 55,595 since 1991.

 22% of jobs and 26% wages in 1996 were in Denver County. However, Denver’s employment has increased by only 9.5% since 1991. Larimer and El Paso Counties have experienced considerable growth. Employment in El Paso County increased by 31% since 1991 and 5% since 1995 to reach 203,582. Employment in Larimer County increased by 32% since ‘91 and 7% since ‘95 to reach 101,795.

 Average and total wages vary a great deal between counties in Colorado. The Denver Metro area accounted for 59% of total wages or $31.5 billion in 1996. Nonmetro area counties with over $1 billion in annual wages include El Paso ($5.2b), Boulder ($4.5b), Larimer ($2.7b), Weld ($1.4b) and Pueblo ($1.1b).
The county with the largest percentage increase in total wages was Douglas with an annual increase of 21% or $131 million. Total covered wages in Douglas County were $752 million. Two other counties that have recorded large percentage increases in total wages are Custer and Elbert. Custer increased by 18% from the previous year and 134% from 1991. Elbert reported gains of 17% and 134% respectively.
The county with the largest increase in total covered wages was Arapahoe with an increase of $954 million. Arapahoe experienced an increase of 65% over a five year period. Total wages in Larimer County increased by 12% or $282 million. The increase in El Paso County was 11% or $510 million.

 The contiguous counties of Hinsdale, San Juan, Mineral and Dolores in Southwest Colorado had combined total covered wages of $19 million in 1996. This represents .04% of total covered wages in Colorado. Other counties with less than $10 million in wages were Kiowa ($8m) and Jackson ($8m).



 1995

Employment

1996

Employment

%

Change

1995

Wages($)

1996

Wages($)

%

Change

Statewide1,813,3341,873,7253.3349,181,899,69353,433,752,8078.65
Agriculture24,76526,1345.53430,632,336479,306,97011.30
Mining14,90413,619(8.62)755,614,549762.940.890.97
Construction102,058111,0648.822,901,606,4233,317,354.87414.33
Manufacturing191,726196,5472.516,709,716,9537,287,035,3508.60
TCPU112,090115,3452.904,246,395,8384,531,441,8436.71
Wholesale Trade95,70198,3372.753,450,113,7393,715.682.0277.70
Retail Trade359,083368,0742.55,343,390,5325,715,375,8859.96
FIRE109,304114,5614.813,676,364,2774,120,674,25912.09
Services509,243536,0845.2713,138,583,23514,586,219,89211.02
Government294,055293,698(.12)8,515,572,6038,908,810,5524.62