Editor’s note: This is the seventh installment in an ongoing series examining how the nation’s economic troubles are playing out in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Unemployment is rising in the Roaring Fork Valley, but the outlook is far better than most of the state and the country, and it could represent an easing for employers who have been struggling with a lack of labor.
“You’re in a bit more of a sweet spot as far as the unemployment rates and job creation vis-à-vis the state as a whole,” said Joe Winter, senior economist for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
In August, the last month when statistics were available, Pitkin County’s unemployment rate rose to 2.9 percent from a scant 2.3 percent a year earlier. Garfield County’s rose from 2.3 percent to 3.1 percent. Eagle County rose from 2.4 percent to 3.3 percent.
Statewide, in seasonally adjusted numbers, the unemployment rate reached 5.4 percent, up from 3.8 percent a year earlier.
The outlook here is better than the nation as a whole, which is seeing a 6.1 percent unemployment rate, according to Department of Labor statistics released Friday. That’s up sharply from 4.7 percent a year ago, and economists predict it could hit 7 or 7.5 percent by late 2009.
“There’s no question that the state, as well as the rest of the country, is in a little bit of a slowdown,” Winter said. “Now, Colorado is faring better during this slowdown than the country as a whole.”
The national picture makes the view from the Roaring Fork Valley look sunny. After years of an overheated market in which employers have struggled to find workers, immigrants have readily found jobs and even some small businesses have joined resorts in employing visa holders from overseas, the employment situation here may be cooling, but jobs are still plentiful.
That’s good news for some employers.
“I would say that we are having a better time filling positions than we had say 18 months or two years ago,” said Glenwood Springs City Manager Jeff Hecksel. Like many employers throughout the valley, the city has struggled to fill its ranks.
Many employers have complained that energy-related jobs, often with higher paychecks than other sectors, have stolen workers away.
The construction industry is expecting to see work wind down somewhat next year, but some say crews will likely remain busy on public jobs, making up for the decline in commercial work.
“By and large I expect to see construction still remain at a fairly robust level there, which makes it fairly atypical of the rest of the state,” Winter said.
With its mix of resort and energy industry jobs, western Colorado remains isolated from trends affecting the state as a whole, he said.
“I don’t think you’ll see as much of a downside or a slow side that you’ll see anywhere from Pueblo to the Wyoming border,” Winter said.
Over the last year, the number of unemployed people nationally has risen by 2.2 million to 9.5 million.
In the Roaring Fork Valley, Pitkin County had 326 unemployed people. Garfield County’s unemployed population reached 1,161.
dfrey@aspendailynews.com
