Colorado Employment Situation – August 2020

Unemployment Rate Falls to 6.7%

Household survey data:

According to the survey of households, Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 6.7 percent in August from 7.4 percent in July. During the same period, the national unemployment rate declined one and eight-tenths of a percentage point to 8.4 percent.

Other highlights from the household survey:

• Colorado’s labor force increased by 2,500 in August to 3,087,000. The labor force participation rate in August was unchanged from July at 66.7 percent.
• The number of individuals employed in Colorado increased by 26,000 in August to 2,880,900, which represents 62.2 percent of the state’s 16+ population. While Colorado’s employment-to-population ratio continues to improve since April, when it was 58.3 percent, it is still well below the February level of 67.7 percent.
• The Colorado counties with the highest unemployment rates in August were: Gilpin (10.7%), Huerfano (9.4%), Summit (8.1%), Costilla (7.9%), and Denver (7.9%). County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted and are directly comparable to Colorado’s August unadjusted rate of 6.6 percent.

These are the unemployment percentages for counties in southeast Colorado, comparing 2020 to 2019 figures: