Unemployment rate drops to 3.5% but state sees decline in workforce. Plus: Are there still good jobs out there? Readers and employers respond.
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What’s Working: Colorado’s job growth isn’t all that’s shrinking. So is its population growth.
The state’s population grew just 0.5% last year, the slowest since 2011. Plus: Twitter job cuts, interest rates and more.
What’s Working: Colorado employers say there’s still a labor shortage even as more jobs are filled
Colorado employers may be facing some of the highest inflation in decades, not to mention talk of recession (no, one hasn’t been officially announced). But one thing that may be finally easing up is attracting enough workers. It’s still bad, just not as bad as it was a year ago, said Curtis Englehart, executive director […]
What’s Working: Colorado’s economy is still growing, but a slow down has added to recession fears
A day after the head of America’s banking system said the nation isn’t in a recession, the U.S. Commerce Department said the nation’s economy shrank. Again. For the second quarter in a row. Conventional wisdom often calls this a recession — or “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and […]
What’s Working: Diversity tools to get past Denver’s $45,000 “scrape-by” wage
Since before the pandemic, a group of Denver business leaders have been working on a plan to get more of their employees above a $45,000 annual wage. There was a good reason for that: A livable wage and promotion potential could help retain workers in a tight labor market. It was also an effort to […]
What’s Working: Colorado business leaders lose optimism about economy — but 55% expect to raise wages anyway
No surprise here. Global unrest with the Russian invasion of Ukraine plus ongoing and rising inflation have Colorado business leaders less optimistic about the economy this year than last, according to a new survey. But has that changed how they’re going about their business? According to a new analysis by Leeds Business Confidence Index, 55% […]
What’s Working: Colorado had the nation’s top layoff rate in December, but fewer people quit their jobs
Looks like omicron did have an impact on Colorado’s employers in December. New monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics this week ranked the state as the nation’s highest for the rate of layoffs, tied with Alaska for the top spot. An estimated 1.6% of Colorado’s workforce was laid off in December, or double […]
What’s Working: Where Colorado’s COVID economic recovery is better and worse than the rest of the country
Colorado’s economy continues to improve from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that was expected as businesses adapted and employees returned to work. We are, after all, nearly two years from Spring 2020’s massive business disruptions. What makes Colorado’s economy stand out is how much better — or worse — it has recovered compared […]
Why Coloradans have quit their jobs: “What price my soul?”
After 10 years at her job, Nancy Johnson walked away on New Year’s Eve. Her employer offered good health benefits and made use of her more than two decades of medical billing experience. But she’d hit a wage wall. The Carbondale resident had even become a certified medical coder because it was a path to […]
What’s Working: The King Soopers labor strike isn’t Colorado’s first. Here’s why we’ll probably see more.
If you haven’t heard, King Soopers employees are on strike to protest unfair labor practices. Not all of them — only those at 77 stores from Boulder to Parker. But more may join soon as employment contracts in Pueblo, Fort Collins, Greeley and elsewhere expire this month or next. United Food and Commercial Workers Local […]