Colorado surpasses 3 million working or looking for a job

Congratulations, unknown Colorado resident who started working or looking for a job in September. You became the 3 millionth job market participant in state history.

The number of people actively involved in Colorado’s labor force — people who have jobs or are looking for a job — rose to 3,010,600 in September, according to the state’s latest jobs report released this week. It marks the first time that number has cracked 3 million. Colorado first reached 2 million workers or wanna-be workers in the spring of 1994, according to the state labor department.

Immigration to the state is definitely part of the equation, according to Ryan Gedney, senior economist with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. The state demography office has projected Colorado’s population would hit 5.66 million people by the end of 2017. It was 5.46 million in 2015.

In all, 18,700 more people became active members of the labor pool in September than were part of it in August, according to the jobs report. An additional 14,800 Coloradans found work last month, bringing the total number of employed people in the state to 2,934,100.

The unemployment rate ticked up a 1/10th of a point to 2.5 percent in the month, a figure that represents 4,000 people. Still, Colorado’s unemployment rate remains low, tying Hawaii for the second best mark in the nation, Gedney said. The national rate fell to 4.2 percent last month.

Despite the record labor pool, the state’s participation rate in the workforce is only slightly above record lows, according to Gedney. That might have more to do with the age of your average Coloradan than it does with the health of the economy though.

Gedney said 68.1 percent of Colorado residents were working or looking for a job as of the end of September. In January of this year that figure was 66.7 percent, tying the lowest rate on the books. The record high was 74 percent set in the late 1990s, Gedney said, but numbers like that might not been seen again.

“It’s more of an impact of demographics. We have an aging population. The whole U.S. does,” Gedney said. “Basically, anyone who wants a job now is participating in the labor force.”

Projections indicate one in five Coloradans will be over 65 years old by 2040.

About 4,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were created in the state last month, bringing the number of such positions to 2,656,200, according to the jobs report. The private sector created 8,100 payroll jobs, and the public sector lost 4,100.