Colorado Employment Situation – February 2021

5,200 Nonfarm Payroll Jobs Added in February; Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 6.6%

Household survey data:

According to the survey of households, Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged in February at 6.6 percent. The national unemployment rate declined one-tenth of a percentage point from January to 6.2 percent.

Other highlights from the household survey:

Colorado’s labor force grew by 3,800 in February to 3,187,200. The share of Coloradans participating in the labor force in February remained steady at 68.6 percent and slightly lower than the pre-pandemic rate of 68.7 percent.

The number of individuals employed in Colorado increased by 5,700 in February to 2,977,900, which represents 64.1 percent of the state’s 16+ population. While Colorado’s employment-to-population ratio continues to improve since April, when it was 57.0 percent, it is still well below the pre-pandemic level of 66.8 percent.

The Colorado counties with the highest unemployment rates in February were: Huerfano (10.5%), Pueblo (9.3%), Montezuma (8.8%), Fremont (8.7%), and Costilla (8.3%). County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted and are directly comparable to Colorado’s February unadjusted rate of 6.8 percent.

Establishment survey data:

Employers in Colorado added 5,200 nonfarm payroll jobs from January to February for a total of 2,662,300 jobs, according to the survey of business establishments. Private sector payroll jobs increased 6,900 and government declined by 1,700. Since May, Colorado has gained back 219,100 of the 375,800 nonfarm payroll jobs lost between February and April of last year. That translates to a job recovery rate of 58.3 percent, which slightly exceeds the U.S. rate of 57.6 percent.

Here are the unemployment percentages for counties in southeast Colorado: