Colorado Employment Situation — November 2025

Nonfarm Payroll Jobs Increase by 2,700 in November;
Unemployment Rate Decreases to 3.9 Percent

Household Survey Estimates and the Federal Government Shutdown

There are no household survey estimates for October 2025. Household survey data were not collected for October 2025 due to the lapse in appropriations and were not collected retroactively. The November reference period was the week that contained the 12th of the month, a typical reference week. Collection of November data began a day late due to the shutdown and was extended to provide more time for contacting households around the Thanksgiving holiday.

Household survey data

• According to the survey of households, the number of unemployed individuals decreased by 8,400 to 125,900 from September to November. Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by two-tenths of a percentage point over the same time period to 3.9 percent. The national unemployment rate increased by two-tenths of a percentage point to 4.6 percent from September to November.
• Colorado’s labor force decreased by 9,400 in November to 3,262,900. The share of Coloradans participating in the labor force was 67.0 percent in November, three-tenths of a percentage point lower than in September, this marks the lowest labor force participation rate since October 2020. The U.S. labor force participation rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point to 62.5 percent in November.
• The number of individuals employed in Colorado decreased by 900 in November to 3,137,000, which represents 64.4 percent of the state’s 16+ population. Colorado’s employment-population ratio of 64.4 percent in November decreased one-tenth of a percentage point from September. The National employment-population ratio was 59.6 percent in November, one-tenth of a percentage point below the September 2025 estimate.

Establishment survey data

• Employers in Colorado gained 2,700 nonfarm payroll jobs from October to November for a total of 3,000,300 jobs, according to the survey of business establishments. Private sector payroll jobs increased by 1,500, while government gained 1,200 jobs.
• The comparison made above uses delayed establishment data for October. Due to the federal government shutdown, this is the first publication of state-level data for October and thus there will be no revisions for October this month (monthly revisions are based on additional responses from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates).
• The private industry sector with significant over the month job gains in November was: other services (≈1,500). The private industry sector with significant over the month job losses was: professional and business services (≈1,200).
• Since November 2024, nonfarm payroll jobs have increased 24,600, with the private sector increasing by 18,300 and government adding 6,300 jobs. The largest private sector job gains were in educational and health services (≈12,500), leisure and hospitality (≈5,200), information (≈3,200), and other services (≈3,200). During that same period, payroll jobs declined in financial activities (≈3,300) and construction (≈2,400). Colorado’s rate of job growth over the past year is 0.8 percent, above the U.S. rate of 0.6 percent.
• Over the year, the average workweek for all Colorado employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased from 32.8 to 33.7 hours, while average hourly earnings grew from $39.16 to $40.47, three dollars and sixty-one cents more than the national average hourly earnings of $36.86.

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