Colorado’s Employment Situation – February 2019

Russ Baldwin | Mar 22, 2019 | Comments 0

Employers in Colorado added 700 nonfarm payroll jobs from January to February for a total of 2,749,600 jobs, according to the survey of business establishments. Private sector payroll jobs increased 1,200 and government decreased 500. January estimates were revised down to 2,748,900, and the over the month change from December to January was an increase of 2,000 rather than the originally estimated increase of 2,400.

According to the survey of households, the unemployment rate was unchanged from January to February at 3.7 percent. The number of people actively participating in the labor force increased 3,800 over the month to 3,138,900 and the number of people reporting themselves as employed increased 5,300 to 3,023,600, causing the number of unemployed to decrease 1,500. Due to rounding, the unemployment rate was unchanged from January at 3.7 percent. The national unemployment rate decreased two-tenths of a percentage point in February to 3.8 percent.

Over the year, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased from 33.3 to 33.1 hours and average hourly earnings increased from $28.42 to $29.93.

The largest over the month private sector job gains were in professional and business services and financial activities. The largest over the month decline was in leisure and hospitality.

Over the year, nonfarm payroll jobs increased 44,800, with an increase of 41,900 in the private sector and an increase of 2,900 in government. The largest private sector job gains were in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and trade, transportation, and utilities. Financial activities declined over the year.

Over the year, the unemployment rate is up eight-tenths of a percentage point from 2.9 percent. The number of Coloradans participating in the labor force increased 84,400, total employment increased 56,900 and the number of unemployed increased 27,500. The national unemployment rate declined from 4.1 percent in February 2018 to 3.8 percent in February 2018.

Here are the unemployment percentages for southeast Colorado counties:

	Labor Force	Feb 2019	Unemployment	Jan 2019	Feb 2018	Unemployment
Baca	2,034	2.3	46	3.0	2.0	40
Bent	1,863	4.2	78	4.6	3.6	67
Cheyenne	1,026	2.0	21	2.5	1.9	21
Crowley	1,507	5.6	85	6.3	3.9	58
Kiowa	848	2.1	18	2.3	1.7	16
Kit Carson	4,100	2.2	90	2.6	2.5	109
Las Animas	6,522	5.2	342	6.3	4.9	308
Otero	8,318	5.8	484	6.5	5.2	433
Prowers	5,906	3.6	213	4.4	3.0	185