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Colorado No. 2 in job growth

State adds 14,500 positions in April but slump persists

Colorado added 14,500 new jobs last month – the second-fastest growth rate in the nation – evidence that state employment is finally starting to rebound.

Still, job creation in April, after a smaller rise in the prior month, cannot make up for a long and brutal slump. State jobs still languish below a late 2000 peak.

By James Paton, Rocky Mountain News

http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_2905979,00.html

New employment figures on Friday from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment triggered commentary from politicians, who touted the numbers as signs the economy is recovering nicely, and their critics, who said the extra jobs have fallen far short of lofty expectations.

Politics aside, the data were met warmly by economists who crunch the numbers.

"It is starting to look like a normal year, instead of a recession year," said Joe Winter, an economist with the state jobs department.

"We don’t want to sing ‘Ding-dong, the witch is dead,’ but the chorus is warming up."

The 14,500 workers added in April are up about 0.7 percent from March levels, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Seven of the state’s 11 major industries experienced expansion, data showed.

Only Hawaii experienced a bigger percentage increase.

Colorado had created 11,800 jobs from February to March. Before that, the state had suffered four straight months of jobs losses.

The state now has 2,156,800 jobs, up from 2,147,800 a year ago, but the start of a war in Iraq last year pushed the 2003 figures lower, making this year’s data look better than it is, Winter said.

At the same time, Colorado’s jobless rate crept up in April to 5.1 percent from 4.9 percent in March, on a seasonally adjusted basis, as the number of people actively looking for work increased.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate for April was 5.6 percent, down slightly from 5.7 percent in the previous month.

Turning to Denver, the metro area added 13,000 of the state’s 17,700 jobs in April, on an unadjusted basis.

That’s the biggest month-to-month rise since May 2000, said Patty Silverstein of Development Research Partners.

"To me, this is big news," she said. "After a couple of months in a row of gains, I feel a lot more encouraged because we are finally starting to see some glimmers of recovery in our economy."

But Denver shed jobs in the information sector – largely telecommunications – and in federal government, Silverstein said.

Back on the state level, the professional and business services sector, which includes temporary staffing, added 9,100 jobs in April, the data showed.

"If they’re bringing in temps, it means they have production they need done now," Winter said. "It’s indicative of future employment demand."

The trade, transportation and utilities sector recorded a big increase of 4,400 jobs.

However, it is easy to forget how agonizing recent years have been. Colorado boasted 2,248,800 jobs in December 2000, 4 percent higher than today’s level.

The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute issued a statement arguing tax cuts have failed to spur the growth promised by the Bush administration.

"Colorado has yet to recover the jobs lost in the recession and has actually lost more jobs," the group said.

Economists agreed that the state has a long way to go to get back to where it once was.

"This is a reflection," Winter said, "of how rough it’s been."

Other states showed a better job picture in April: North Carolina, with 20,700 jobs added; Missouri, up 20,000; Texas, up 17,000; and California, up 16,300.

Hawaii, Colorado and Missouri had the biggest percentage increases in jobs, respectively.

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