Colorado Employment Situation – July 2022

Unemployment Rate Falls to 3.3% in July; 2,200 Nonfarm Payroll Jobs Added

Household survey data:

According to the survey of households, Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point in July to 3.3 percent. This marks the lowest rate since February 2020, when it was 2.8 percent. The national unemployment rate also declined by one-tenth of a percentage point and reached the pre-pandemic rate of 3.5 percent.

Other highlights from the household survey:

Colorado’s labor force grew by 1,700 in July to 3,250,500. The share of Coloradans participating in the labor force was flat in July at 69.5 percent, the highest rate since March 2020.

The number of individuals employed in Colorado increased by 5,700 in July to 3,142,800, which represents 67.2 percent of the state’s 16+ population. Colorado’s employment-to-population ratio has risen for seven consecutive months and is at its highest level since January 2009, which was 67.3 percent.

The Colorado counties with the highest unemployment rates in July were: Huerfano (6.0%), Pueblo (5.2%), Las Animas (4.9%), Fremont (4.7%), and Rio Grande (4.6%). County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted and are directly comparable to Colorado’s July unadjusted rate of 3.3 percent.

Other highlights from the establishment survey:

June estimates were revised up to 2,860,700, and the over the month change from May to June was a gain of 7,800 rather than the originally estimated increase of 4,500 (monthly revisions are based on additional responses from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates).

Over the year, the average workweek for all Colorado employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased from 33.9 to 33.0 hours, while average hourly earnings grew from $31.92 to $34.60, two dollars and twenty-three cents more than the national average hourly earnings of $32.37.

Here are the July 2022 Unemployment percentages for several southeast Colorado counties: