Colorado Employment Situation – December 2019

Employers in Colorado added 1,400 nonfarm payroll jobs from November to December for a total of 2,803,500 jobs, according to the survey of business establishments. Private sector payroll jobs increased 1,100 and government increased 300. November estimates were revised up to 2,802,100, and the over the month change from October to November was an increase of 9,400 rather than the originally estimated increase of 4,100.

According to the survey of households, the unemployment rate decreased one-tenth of a percentage point from November to December to 2.5 percent. This is the lowest unemployment rate for Colorado since the series began in 1976.

The number of people actively participating in the labor force increased 6,000 over the month to 3,176,600 and the number of people reporting themselves as employed increased 8,100 to 3,096,400, causing the number of unemployed to decrease 2,100 and the unemployment rate to decline to 2.5 percent. The national unemployment rate was unchanged in December at 3.5 percent.

Over the year, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.6 hours and average hourly earnings increased from $29.88 to $30.77.

The largest over the month private sector job gains were in education and health services and trade, transportation, and utilities. The largest over the month decline was in financial activities.

Over the year, nonfarm payroll jobs increased 56,600, with an increase of 47,000 in the private sector and an increase of 9,600 in government. The largest private sector job gains were in professional and business services, education and health services, and trade, transportation, and utilities. Mining and logging declined over the year.

Over the year, the unemployment rate is down one and one-tenth of a percentage point from 3.6 percent in December 2018. The number of Coloradans participating in the labor force increased 47,900, total employment increased 81,200 and the number of unemployed decreased 33,300. The national unemployment rate declined from 3.9 percent in December 2018 to 3.5 percent in December 2019.

The following are unemployment percentages for counties in southeast Colorado: