In just one month, Colorado's employment landscape presented a mixed bag, as the most recent labor data revealed both incremental gains in certain sectors and notable losses in others. February witnessed a surge in strike activity at a major retail grocery company, which cast a shadow on the state's employment numbers. During the reference week of February 9th through 15th, the affected workers were excluded from the payroll job estimates in the establishment survey, as detailed by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
As per the household survey cited in the press release, unemployment in Colorado rose slightly by 2,500 individuals, reaching 155,300 between January and February. Despite this uptick, the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent. However, this is a tepid comfort when considering the national unemployment rate, which climbed a notch by one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.1 percent during the same period. Furthermore, the labor force in Colorado contracted by 1,400 to a total of 3,283,100, nudging the labor force participation down a hair to 67.9 percent.
When zooming out to a broader lens, the picture becomes somewhat grimmer. Overall, Colorado saw its employment decrease by 4,000 in February, bringing the total number of employed civilians to 3,127,800. This equates to 64.7 percent of the state's 16+ population. In contrast, the employment-population ratio nationally also declined, albeit more sharply, dropping two-tenths of a percentage point to 59.9 percent.
Regarding the establishment survey data, the press release noted that Colorado employers shed 8,900 nonfarm payroll jobs from January to February, summing a total of 2,968,700 jobs. The private sector was hit hardest, dropping 10,300 jobs, while government positions saw an increase, adding 1,400 jobs to their rosters. The private industry sector experiencing a significant rise in job numbers for February was education and health services, with a gain of approximately 1,100 jobs. On the flip side, the sectors hemorrhaging jobs included trade, transportation, and utilities, with a striking decline of approximately 11,000 jobs, and other services with job losses nearing 1,000. The disruption in employment within the trade, transportation, and utilities sectors is directly linked to the aforementioned strike, particularly in the metro areas of Denver, Boulder, and Pueblo.
One year-over-year comparison paints a less dire scenario for Colorado's job market, with nonfarm payroll jobs incrementally growing by a modest 500 from February 2024 to February 2025. Still, with the private sector taking a loss of 14,700 jobs and government roles bolstering the figure by adding 15,200 jobs, the stagnation is evident. Particularly hard-hit were professional and business services, trade, transportation, and utilities, as well as the information sector. A sliver of good news is that the average workweek for all Colorado employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased slightly, from 33.0 to 33.4 hours, and average hourly earnings rose from $37.42 to $40.31, outstripping the national average hourly earnings by $4.38.
