COVID may have harmed us in a thousand different ways, but one place it’s had a beneficial impact is rural Colorado, which is getting permanent economic attention.
Thank Katharina Papenbrock, director of the Rural Opportunity Office, or ROO, one of 13 divisions of Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, or OEDIT. Without her, the rural economic arm of OEDIT, which has a long and winding history, might have withered away as federal funding was set to end in June.
Papenbrock says 20 years ago, OEDIT had representatives who worked and lived in rural Colorado, but over the years, “they had consolidated to, like, one or two people in the Denver office.”
Centralization was a barrier to addressing the needs of rural communities, so in 2019, the office “branched back into the model it had been before,” Papenbrock said. It enlisted three representatives living in the communities they served — the Eastern Plains, southern Colorado and western Colorado — to focus impact.
“The core role of the office at that point, which continues to this day, was to really have people on the ground who live and work in rural communities who really understand the situations on the ground,” she added.
But three months after the new ROO iteration was in place, COVID hit and the office had to make a quick shift in the first half of 2020.
“Really, at that point, it became very small-business focused and community-resource focused to help people navigate the changing number of conditions, regulations and programs designed to help businesses pivot,” Papenbrock said. “The goal was to keep their doors open, per se, in whatever ways they could.”
How COVID-19 brought funding to rural communities
During the pandemic the ROO received a federal grant to start work on its groundbreaking Rural Resiliency and Recovery Roadmaps program, a story map of Colorado identifying regionally aligned and actionable strategies to help rural communities recover from the pandemic and be more resilient to future shocks and stressors. By August 2021, in partnership with the Department of Local Affairs’ Colorado Resiliency Office, ROO had selected 16 regional “teams” representing 169 communities across Colorado to participate in the program.
Applicants were selected based on their rural status, COVID impacts, connected economies and economic vulnerability factors. In the years since, the program, funded by a $2.3 million U.S. Economic Development Administration grant, has provided technical assistance for rural communities to drive economic recovery, diversification and resilience.
The 16 regional teams, and the communities they represented, ranged from the town of Center to Clear Creek County to Eagle County to the city of Steamboat Springs, Morgan County, the South Central Council of Governments and beyond.
The new work was so important to building resilient rural economies across Colorado that some lawmakers thought it needed a permanent division within OEDIT. So in January 2023, state Sens. Dylan Roberts and Janice Rich along with Reps. Barbara McLachlan and Marc Catlin introduced Senate Bill 6 to the General Assembly, to codify the office and help ensure continuity of service for rural communities. The law went into effect in August and allocated about $370,000 of the state’s general fund to support four employees and some operating expenses. Next year, the budget will grow to nearly $500,000.
“So much of Papenbrock’s team’s work builds and relies upon strong relationships with rural communities to support their economic growth,” OEDIT spokeswoman Alissa Johnson said. “Codification means there won’t be any interruptions to those relationships or that work. It also demonstrates that statewide economic growth and stability is an ongoing priority for the state, including Gov. Polis and the General Assembly.”
The Rural Opportunity Office by the numbers:
“The Rural Opportunity Office’s track record of success during COVID was why we moved forward with codifying their work into law,” Roberts said. “Now,” as a permanent part of OEDIT, “they are helping rural Coloradans every day.”
Section by Tracy Ross | Reporter
Another jobs report: Who’s still hiring?
Throughout 2023, the number of job vacancies in Colorado dropped 7.3% between January and December, according to a new report from Aspen Technology Labs, an Aspen firm that tracks recruitment trends of the nation’s largest employers. That “excited employers and pointed to a loosening labor market,” said the report, which was produced for the Colorado Chamber of Commerce. Nationwide, the number of job vacancies dropped 8.8% in the same period.
Colorado’s shrinking pot of job openings, however, was still hovering above 112,000 as of Dec. 18, according to Aspen data, which tracks only job openings employers post online. On a per-capita rate, Colorado ranked 10th for highest vacancy rate in the fourth quarter, compared with ninth in the third quarter nationwide.
That’s still relatively high, said Ryan Gifford, an Aspen data analyst. Aspen didn’t have older data to compare it with since it started tracking vacancies last year but Gifford pointed to another source, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2019, the BLS’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey estimated that Colorado had an average of 147,000 job openings each month compared with the 210,500 monthly average last year. In other words, in 2019, the number of job openings in Colorado was about 30% lower than it is today. Aspen data trended similarly to BLS job openings data in the past year, Gifford said.
“The BLS is reporting over 9 million job openings. That’s still way above pre-pandemic levels,” he said. “I’d say that’s still a very healthy labor market and there’s still a lot of demand from employers for labor.”
Looking at the types of vacancies might make it easier to understand why there are still so many in Colorado. Top local employers in the fall were fast-food chains Wendy’s and Taco Bell, King Soopers’ parent Kroger Inc., delivery services FedEx and UPS and retailers like Ross Stores. Those are employers who need seasonal workers in the fall or tend to have a lot of turnover so the job listings never close, though UPS just announced 12,000 layoffs.
Look past the permanent vacancies and then we start to see what’s changed. Computer and math jobs had the largest drop in vacancies in Colorado, likely linked to the ongoing job cuts at tech companies. Also in decline: Construction jobs, office and administrative support, architecture and engineering jobs and legal and management positions. Those also could be due to seasonal lulls or high interest rates that created an uncertain future and caused employers to hold back.
Food prep and service-related openings also shrunk. Gifford said that could be a sign that restaurants and the service industry are finally finding the staff they need and have rebounded from the pandemic lows.
The perennial top job vacancy in the state? Registered nurses, where sign-on bonuses and relocation assistance are common, such as this $5,000 bonus at Intermountain Health in Grand Junction, or CommonSpirit’s offer of $8,000 in relocation assistance.
“In Colorado, there are almost 5,000 open registered-nursing positions,” he said.
Section by Tamara Chuang | Business/Technology Reporter
➔ UNEXPECTED: The U.S. added 353,000 jobs in January, according to U.S. Department of Labor. That number was higher than expected with one economics consultant telling the New York Times, “There’s layoffs happening, but workers are able to find new positions,” said Sara Rutledge, an independent economics consultant. “It’s almost like a ‘pinch me’ scenario.” The nation’s unemployment rate remained at 3.7%. >> Read
Sun economy stories you may have missed
➔ Colorado had money to stop an extra 1,500 evictions in 2023. The Polis administration told renters not to apply so $8 million allocation to help out went unused, writes Sun politics reporter Brian Eason. >> Read
➔ When nonprofits unionize. “It’s kind of this open secret that people leave not because they don’t like their work, but because they simply are not paid enough to continue doing it,” said Kit Bernal, a curatorial assistant at the Denver Art Museum who makes just under $50,000. Sun culture reporter Parker Yamasaki reports that DAM workers will vote in March on whether to unionize. >> Read
➔ Short-term rental owners fight proposal to quadruple taxes. No surprise that property owners who rent their homes to vacationers oppose Senate Bill 33, which would quadruple property taxes on houses rented out more than 90 days a year. Reporter Jason Blevins has been tracking the challenge of providing affordable worker housing, especially near Colorado ski slopes, and is just the next saga in the high-country housing shortage. >> Read
➔ Colorado attracts federal funding for clean energy. A National Science Foundation program picked the state as one 10 “Regional Innovation Engines.” Tamara Chuang and Michael Booth summed it up: The designation means $15 million to help get a climate and clean-energy ecosystem up and running and up to $160 million over the next decade. >> Read
Other working bits
➔ 77,837,917 passengers flew out of Denver airport in 2023. That’s a 12.3% increase from 2022, according to Denver International Airport. It’s also the first year the airport served more than 70 million passengers in one year. Thank goodness it added another security checkpoint earlier this week, reports Denverite (that fully opens Tuesday). July was the busiest, at 7 million, with August in third place and June ranked fifth busiest. So plan your summer travel accordingly. DIA has already updated its website to share that achievement. >> Read
➔ Woman-run tech startups wanted. Tech Venture Accelerator for Women, a 10-week business accelerator for tech startups, is taking applications through Feb. 9. The virtual program is hosted by the Colorado Small Business Development Center and is intended for women-owned science and technology businesses based in Colorado.Those who identify as women or are non-binary and gender non-conforming people are welcome to apply. Beyond mentorship, peer support and access to resources, the accelerator also provides federal and state grants that are non-dilutive capital. Another bonus? The program’s $2,450 participant fee is waived for accepted businesses. >> Apply
➔ Deadline to challenge broadband map is Feb. 9. This is a reminder for internet service providers, nonprofits and local or Tribal governments in Colorado that the deadline to challenge this map for inaccurate broadband service is Feb. 9. Unless broadband service is deemed inadequate (ie: download speeds of less than 100 megabits per second), the area won’t be eligible for a piece of the $826.5 million in federal funding allocated to the state for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program. >> Details
Get What’s Working in your inbox: It’s free! Subscribe
Thanks for sticking with me for this week’s report. Remember to check out The Sun’s daily coverage online. As always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww. ~ tamara
Miss a column? Catch up:
What’s Working is a Colorado Sun column about surviving in today’s economy. Email tamara@coloradosun.com with stories, tips or questions. Read the archive, ask a question at cosun.co/heyww and don’t miss the next one by signing up at coloradosun.com/getww.
Support this free newsletter and become a Colorado Sun member: coloradosun.com/join