Colorado unemployment rate dips below 3 percent

Colorado’s unemployment rate slipped to 2.9 percent in April, breaking a seven-month run at 3 percent, according to a monthly update from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

“Colorado and the U.S. continue to show solid economic growth. That level of growth is expected to continue through the remainder of 2018 and carryover into 2019,” said Broomfield economist Gary Horvath.

Private employers added 6,300 jobs and the government sector added 900, bringing the total number of jobs in the state to 2.7 million. The biggest monthly gains came in leisure and hospitality, up 3,800; professional and business services, up 3,200; and financial activities, up 1,200.

About 6,800 people joined the labor force last month, fewer than the number of net jobs added.

That contributed to a drop of 2,500 in the number of unemployed, which now stands at 88,100 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The 2.9 percent unemployment rate is below the 3 percent rate from March on a seasonally adjusted basis, but above the 2.6 percent rate of April 2017. Only eight states, led by Hawaii at 2 percent unemployment, have a lower rate than Colorado’s. Nationally, the unemployment rate in April stood at 3.9 percent.

Removing seasonal adjustments, the state’s unemployment rate is at 2.6 percent, the same level as April 2017.

As has been the case for several months now, average hourly earnings are on the rise, going from $27.73 an hour to $28.91 the past year. The average workweek remained unchanged at 33.7 percent.