June 2021 Unemployment Rate, Annual Employment Law Update.
21st July, 2021 by VCBA
Unemployment Falls a Little in Central Northwest Counties
Household survey data:
According to the survey of households, Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was flat in June at 6.2 percent. During the same period, the national unemployment rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.9 percent. Other highlights from the household survey:
Colorado’s labor force decreased by 2,200 in June to 3,197,100. The share of Coloradans participating in the labor force was 68.5 percent in June, just below the pre-pandemic February 2020 labor force participation rate of 68.7 percent.
The number of individuals employed in Colorado contracted by 200 in June to 2,999,800, which represents 64.3 percent of the state’s 16+ population. Colorado’s employment-to-population ratio has gradually improved since April 2020, when it was 57.0 percent, but is still well below the pre-pandemic level of 66.8 percent.
The Colorado counties with the highest unemployment rates in June were: Huerfano (8.8%), Pueblo (8.7%), Gilpin (7.2%), San Miguel (7.2%), and Fremont (7.2%). County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted and are directly comparable to Colorado’s June unadjusted rate of 6.3 percent.
Business highlights:
Employers in Colorado added 10,800 nonfarm payroll jobs from May to June for a total of 2,719,600 jobs, according to the survey of business establishments. Private sector payroll jobs increased 10,500 and government added 300 jobs. Over the past 14 months, Colorado has gained back 276,400 of the 375,800 nonfarm payroll jobs lost between February and April of last year. That translates to a job recovery rate of 73.5 percent, which exceeds the U.S. rate of 69.8 percent.Other highlights from the establishment survey:
May estimates were revised up to 2,708,800, and the over the month change from April to May was a gain of 17,500 rather than the originally estimated increase of 17,100 (monthly revisions are based on additional responses from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates).
Private industry sectors with significant job gains in June were: leisure and hospitality (~5,300), professional and business services (~3,300), and trade, transportation, and utilities (~1,000). There were no significant private sector over the month declines.
Since June 2020, nonfarm payroll jobs have increased 154,100, with the private sector growing by 143,900 jobs and government adding an additional 10,200 jobs. The largest private sector job gains were in leisure and hospitality (~67,300), trade, transportation, and utilities (~32,600), and professional and business services (~21,100). During that same period construction (~2,100), information (~600), and mining and logging (~500) payroll jobs declined. Colorado’s rate of job growth over the past year is 6.0 percent, compared to the U.S. rate of 5.7 percent.
Over the year, the average workweek for all Colorado employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased from 33.7 to 33.9 hours, while average hourly earnings increased from $30.35 to $31.58, a dollar and eighteen cents more than the national average hourly earnings of $30.40.
