In recent weeks, my inbox has been full of bold claims by private companies and industry groups revealing Colorado as one of the top states for: Remote workers — #2 thanks to low-monthly utility bills and internet prices Lowest-paid veterinarians — #2 based on average vet pay vs. all occupations. Colorado pays vets an average […]
unemployment
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
We may never know how many of Colorado’s missing workers died of COVID-19
Some readers have asked more than once: How many workers in Colorado died of COVID-19? It’s a valid question for this column because, as previously reported, Colorado has fewer people in the labor force these days compared with April. We’re also still down from 2019. While it’s impossible to know the exact number without contacting […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
What’s Working: Colorado is in economically better shape than most states, but still down 77,900 jobs from before COVID
In recent weeks, this column has delved into labor-shortage issues and identified who is part of the “missing” workforce. And we’ve found some of them! But more on that below. On Friday, it was the monthly dump of economic data from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. So, how is Colorado doing? Well, the […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
What’s Working: People are quitting their jobs in record numbers. Here’s what happened in Colorado.
The latest job report caught many, many, many people’s attention because of this sentence: “The quits rate increased to a series high of 2.9%.” That’s from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics summary of its August Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, aka JOLTS. In other words, it was the highest rate since JOLTS began […]
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What’s Working: Colorado’s labor force is missing older adults, parents of young kids and international workers
The labor stories keep getting shared, and not just here on What’s Working. If you wander over to Facebook, the conversation has been quite lively around some of The Colorado Sun’s recent job stories, such as this one and this one. There are a number of folks who cannot find a job, so if you’re […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Equity, Growth, News, Technology
Where have Colorado’s workers gone? Some say: “We’re still here. Hire us!”
THORNTON — Ground zero for what’s happening to Colorado’s labor market may as well be right here, in Amazon’s 2.4 million-square-foot warehouse where employees work alongside orange 320-pound robots. The mechanical creatures look like massive robotic vacuum cleaners. But instead of lifting dirt, each robot can lift yellow storage pods filled with random products and […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News, Technology
What’s Working: Need a job? Tech companies are hiring in Colorado as a pre-pandemic labor crunch continues
Long before COVID-19 and the ensuing labor crisis, the Colorado technology industry faced its own tight labor market. Four years ago, when Colorado’s unemployment rate was 2.3%, a local manager at job recruiter Robert Half told me that for some tech jobs the rate was even lower — more like 1%. Nineteen months into COVID, […]
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What’s Working: The Colorado disconnect continues between employers and the unemployed
The job stories continue to roll in about whether there is a labor shortage. Hearing from multiple sides, I continue to see a large disconnect in the jobs offered, the required skills and the people available to fill those spots and the work they can offer. Lisa Kunze, who has a master’s in education, wrote […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
What’s Working: 24,000 unemployed Coloradans must pay back pandemic jobless benefits
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t end on Sept. 4, even though federal unemployment benefits did. Last week, the jobless scene may have seemed quiet to outsiders, but it wasn’t. And this week, it became much worse, as 24,000 folks who’d received pandemic unemployment aid learned they must repay some of the money. But more on that […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
What’s Working: As Colorado’s labor shortage blame game continues, most unemployed workers are actually back at work
If you look at job listings in Colorado, there’s more than 100,000 postings just on the state’s own job board. And as more than 100,000 people who were eligible for unemployment last week but are not this week, they’re looking for work. But I continue to receive mixed messages in my inbox that point to […]