Trend comes to an end.
Colorado's Unemployment Rises
After 63 months of declining or remaining
stagnant, Colorado’s unemployment rate is rising again.
The state experienced a slight uptick in unemployment from 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent in April.
“The five-plus year streak has come to an end,
but I think it was inevitable,” economist Gary Horvath told the Denver Post.
The job sectors that experienced the greatest
decline were professional and business services, trade, transportation and
utilities, and leisure and hospitality, according to the Colorado Department of
Labor and Employment. Picking up the
slack were education and health services and the construction industry.
Overall, the number of unemployed workers in the
state has decreased by 23,600 since the start of the year.
Average hourly pay during April increased from
$26.85 to $27.44, The Denver Post reported, while there was a slight
decrease in the average hours in a workweek. The average fell to 33.2 hours
from 33.6 in March.
Colorado’s unemployment rate for April was lower
than many of its neighbors: Utah (3.7), Kansas (3.8) and New
Mexico (6.2). Nebraska, however, had a slightly better rate than Colorado, at
3.0.
