The growth rate in both employment and wages decreased slightly in 1999. Employment growth slipped from 3.98 to 3.67 percent and total wage growth slipped from 11.6 to 9.9 percent. Average annual wages continued to increase faster than the Denver-Boulder-Greeley CPI at 6.0 percent verses 2.9 percent. Private industry wages increased by 6.5 percent, versus 2.9 percent for establishments classified under government ownership.
Several themes continue to dominate the employment scenario in Colorado. An increasing population has stretched the Construction industry to capacity resulting in higher prices. Anti-government sentiment and the TABOR amendment have severely limited growth in local and state government employment. Large increases in technology-oriented employment have supplied both high paying jobs in basic industries and begun to crowd out labor-intensive industries that tend to be price sensitive.
The Construction industry hit bottom in 1989 with 60,138 jobs. In 1999 there were 146,810 jobs classified under Construction. Employment in several Construction related industries have doubled since 1992, the earliest year that four digit data was easily accessible. Landscape and Horticultural Services employment increased from 5,580 to 11,537. Construction Sand and Gravel employment increased from 527 to 1,076. Mobile Homes employment increased from 130 to 557. Lumber and other Building Materials employment increased from 6,341 to 13,054. These are just some examples of the Construction boom causing increases in non-construction industries. There are many more.
Like Construction, the technology sector has created high paying job opportunities in several major employment divisions that may not be apparent to a casual observer. Since 1992, Programming Services employment increased from 4,762 to 14,819 with an average annual salary of $70,139. Computer Related Services, NEC increased from 1,982 to 13,606. In Wholesaling, Computers, Peripherals & Software increased from 6,742 to 8,818 with an average salary of $87,796. Telephone Communications employment increased from 22,185 to 35,347 with an average salary of $66,274. Technology related establishments appear to be behind the widespread increases in average salaries, population increases, and the subsequent construction boom.
Growth within government-classified establishments was primarily limited to Educational Services and Justice, Public Order, and Safety. Of the 6,655 additional jobs classified in government, 3,369 were in Educational Services and 1,030 were in Justice, Public Order, and Safety.
| 1998 Employment | 1999 Employment | % Change | 1998 Wages ($) | 1999 Wages ($) | % Change | |
| Statewide | 2,030,696 | 2,105,286 | 3.67% | 65,504,004,325 | 71,978,550,859 | 9.88% |
| Agriculture | 29,457 | 31,367 | 6.48% | 596,470,038 | 670,013,408 | 12.33% |
| Mining | 13,992 | 13,007 | -7.04% | 823,216,117 | 877,368,969 | 6.58% |
| Construction | 132,543 | 146,810 | 10.76% | 4,428,084,902 | 5,074,746,592 | 14.60% |
| Manufacturing | 207,328 | 204,120 | -1.55% | 8,516,515,240 | 8,904,488,728 | 4.56% |
| TCPU | 124,899 | 136,322 | 9.15% | 5,764,591,704 | 6,945,655,749 | 20.49% |
| Wholesale Trade | 105,113 | 105,954 | 0.80% | 4,543,636,155 | 4,888,181,283 | 7.58% |
| Retail Trade | 387,563 | 401,201 | 3.52% | 6,662,533,344 | 7,278,070,091 | 9.24% |
| FIRE | 131,680 | 136,333 | 3.53% | 5,575,705,781 | 6,332,363,987 | 13.57% |
| Services | 593,098 | 618,572 | 4.30% | 18,672,228,924 | 20,578,423,589 | 10.21% |
| Government | 304,844 | 311,499 | 2.18% | 9,913,633,537 | 10,423,806,017 | 5.15% |
| Percent Change in Employment | |
 | 4.3 to 27.3 |
 | 2.5 to 4.3 |
 | 0.5 to 2.5 |
 | -8.3 to 0.5 |
Employment growth slowed slightly in 1999 with an addition of 74,590 jobs. This increase was typical of what Colorado has experienced over the last seven years. Forty-nine of sixty-three counties reported an increase in employment while 14 reported a decrease. Last year, six counties reported a decrease. The combined job loss, in the fourteen counties that reported a decrease, was 844 jobs.
Arapahoe County added more jobs than any other with an increase of 13,470 jobs to average 274,430. Other counties adding over eight thousand jobs included El Paso up 9,535 to 229,845, Denver up 9,278 to 455,642, Adams up 8,467 to 138,758 and Boulder up 7,883 to 166,736.
On a one-year percentage basis, Crowley County increased the fastest at 27.3 percent. The second fastest growing county was Elbert at 15.3 percent. Other counties with growth rates in excess of ten percent in 1999 were Dolores at 14.5, Douglas at 11.5, and Archuleta at 10.6.
On a five-year percentage basis, Douglas County continued to be the growth leader at 128.7 percent. The second fastest growing county was Elbert at 80.6. Elbert appears ready to take over the five-year percentage growth lead in the next couple of years. Other rapidly growing, yet small, counties include Archuleta up 58.7 percent, Custer up 46 percent and Eagle up 39 percent. Four counties experienced a decline in covered employment over five-years including Rio Blanco down 201, Kiowa down 123, Costillo down 29 and Jackson down 5.
On a five-year actual basis, Arapahoe County added the most jobs at 64,310. Other counties adding over 25k jobs in the five–year period were Denver at 50,444, El Paso at 46,321, Douglas at 27,684, Adams at 25,700 and Boulder at 25,248.
Growth slowed in counties associated with the skiing industry. Eagle slowed from 6.3 percent to 3.9 percent, Pitkin from 1.6 to negative 1.5 percent, Summit from 3.6 to 3.4 percent, Routt from 6.8 to 3.2 percent and Gunnison from 5.2 to 0.9 percent. San Miguel defied the trend with growth increasing from 3.1 to 8.1 percent.
Growth slowed in the Northern Front Range. Weld County employment growth decreased from 5.3 to 3.9 percent, while Larimer County employment growth slowed from 5.1 to 2.6 percent.
Counties in the eastern plains continued to experience either anemic growth or declines in employment.| Percent Change in Average wage | |
 | 6.0 to 11.3 |
 | 4.0 to 6.0 |
 | 2.2 to 4.0 |
 | -3.3 to 2.2 |
Average Wages The average annual wage increased 6.0 percent to $34,189. Colorado’s average wage increased by 30.7 percent over five years. All but six of Colorado’s sixty-three counties had an increase in their average wage. Las Animas, Costillo and Jackson counties are the only Colorado counties to experience a decline in their average wage over a five-year period.
Average private ownership wages continued to increase much faster than government wages. The average private wage increased by 6.5 percent to $34,316 while federal wages increased by 3.1 percent to $44,177, state wages increased by 3.1 percent to $36,423 and local government wages increased by 3.4 percent to $29,509.
Arapahoe County had the highest average wage at $42,899. This was an 11.3 percent rise from the previous year. The only other county with an average wage over $40k was Boulder at $40,001. Denver’s average wage increased by 5.9 percent to $39,730. Hinsdale County had the lowest average at $16,151.
The only county to experience an average wage increase in excess of ten percent was Arapahoe at 11.3 percent. The runners up were Park at 9.9 percent and Lake at 9.5 percent.
Total Wages Growth in total wages slowed slightly in 1999. Total wages increased by $6.74 billion to $71.98 billion. This was a 9.9 percent increase. Total wages have increased by 54.2 percent over five years. The county with the highest total wage figure in 1999 was Denver. Aggregate wages in Denver increased by $1.36 billion to $18.1 billion. The only other county with over $10 billion in wages was Arapahoe at $11.8 billion.
On a percentage basis, Crowley County experienced the greatest total wage growth. Crowley’s wages increased by 28 percent to $27.3 million. Elbert and Dolores Counties were the only others with a wage growth rate in excess of twenty percent. Elbert increased by 21.8 percent to $65 million and Dolores increased by 21.4 percent to $8 million. Seven counties experienced a decline in total wages in 1999.
On a five-year percentage basis, Douglas County had the greatest increase at 194.3 percent. Denver County had the largest five-year actual increase at $5.8 billion. Four counties had a decline in total wages over five years. They were Kiowa down 13.8 percent, Costilla down 7 percent, Rio Blanco down 4 percent and Jackson down 3.3 percent.
| Employment | Annual average covered employment increased by 74,590 jobs to 2,105,286 in 1999. This increase was similar to the increases that Colorado experienced during the last six years. Employment growth slowed from the previous year on a percentage basis from 4.0 to 3.7 percent. The five-county Denver MSA accounted for 55 percent of the increase or 41,367 jobs. Fifteen of Colorado’s 63 counties did not experience an increase in average annual employment. The sector with the largest increase was Services, which added 25,474 jobs. The second largest increase occurred within Construction at 14,267 jobs. The county with the largest employment increase was Arapahoe at 13,470 followed by El Paso at 9,535 and Denver at 9,278. Manufacturing recorded the largest decrease in annual average employment at 3,208 jobs. The only other sector to decline was Mining, which was down 985 jobs. |
| Wages | Total annual covered wages continued to increase at a rapid pace in 1999, although not as fast as in the previous year. Wages increased by $6.47 billion to $71.98 billion. The largest increase occurred within Services, which rose by $1.91 billion or 10.2 percent to $6.33 billion. On a percentage basis, the largest increase was in T.C.P.U. with a 20.5 percent rise to $6.95 billion. This was the largest annual increase in total wages for any sector in at least 15 years. Other sectors with double-digit percentage increases were Construction up 14.6 percent, F.I.R.E. up 13.6 percent and Agriculture up 13.3 percent. None of the major sectors experienced a decline in total wages. Seven out of 63 counties recorded a derease in total covered wages in 1999. Two counties had increases over $1 billion. Denver County wages increased by $1.6 billion to $18.1 billion and Arapahoe County increased by $1.2 billion to $11.8 billion. The Denver-Boulder Greeley CPI-U increased from 161.9 to 166.6 from the second half of 1998 to the second half of 1999. This was a 2.9 percent increase. |