The employment situation in Colorado continues to boom,reports The Prowers Journal.Nonfarm payroll jobs increased by almost six thousand last month. That brings the total for the state up to well over two-and-a-half million jobs. At the same time, the unemployment rate decreased one-tenth of a percentage point to 2.9 percent—far below the national average.
The Colorado unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since February 2001. The national rate fell, too, by a full half percentage point, to an even 5.0 percent. In the last year the average nonfarm workweek decreased as well, to just over 33 hours, and average earnings increased to almost $28 an hour.
The largest job gains came in the fields of construction and leisure and hospitality. Among southeast Colorado counties, Baca County has the lowest unemployment rate at 1.9 percent. Las Animas has the highest, at 5.4.