Colorado adds 4,500 payroll jobs, but unemployment edges up

Colorado's unemployment rate edged up in July, to 8.3 percent, the highest rate since last September, but the state added 4,500 payroll jobs over the month, the greatest one-month gain since February.

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment reported the new job numbers Friday.

The unemployment rate and the payroll jobs total are derived from two different surveys that usually coincide, but in this case show different trends.

Colorado's private-sector payrolls grew by 4,200 positions in July from the previous month, and government jobs grew by 300, CDLE said.

Colorado now has 2,294,900 payroll jobs, up 37,300 from a year ago, the state estimates.

The greatest payroll-job gains in July were in leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, professional and business services, and the broad "other services" category.

The monthly payroll job gain was a sharp improvement over June, when CDLE reported state payrolls fell by 6,900.

The agency reported payroll job gains of 2,000 in May, 1,200 in April, 2,600 in March, 4,700 in February and 19,500 in January.

Meanwhile, Colorado's unemployment rate rose one tenth of a percent in July from the previous month, to 8.3 percent, matching the national jobless rate for that month.

It's the highest rate of unemployment reported for the state since September 2011.

The state's jobless rate has been creeping up over the the year. It stood at 7.8 percent in January through March, then reached 7.9 percent in April, 8.1 percent in May, and 8.2 percent in June.

The payroll job numbers come from a survey of employers known as the establishment survey, leaving out certain types of workers, including farmworkers, the self-employed and household workers.

The unemployment numbers are based on a separate poll of households that includes those job categories.

Mark Harden is print and digital content editor for the Denver Business Journal and writes for the "Broadway & 17th" blog. Email: mharden@bizjournals.com. Phone: 303-803-9227.

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