Centennial Citizen > News
Arapahoe County’s jobless rate falls
By Peter Jones
After rising to 8 percent in March, Arapahoe County’s unemployment rate held steady in May for the second month, remaining at 7.2 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The county’s jobless figure had generally risen steadily since November 2007 when it stood at 4 percent. The unemployment rate had seen only occasional and slight drops during the last 20 months.
Arapahoe County’s jobless figures are among the lowest in the generally declining unemployment rates across metro Denver.
Denver and Adams counties both showed two months of decline in May — and stand at 8 percent and 8.5 percent respectively — but both still had rates higher than Arapahoe’s. Only neighboring Douglas County, at 6.2 percent, had jobless figures substantially lower than Arapahoe County.
According to Patrick Holwell, a data analyst with Arapahoe/Douglas Works, a public-private workforce center, the data are evidence of the affluence and educational levels of the south metro area.
“Look at the skill set of the workforce in Douglas County — managers, technical people, accountants, lawyers and so on,” he said. “Arapahoe County may be a little less so, but the Denver Tech Center is kind of the finance industry’s hub for the Denver metro area.”
For the 10-county metro region, unemployment remained unchanged at 7.5 percent in May. The statewide figure rose only slightly from 7.3 percent in April to 7.4 percent. Denver’s 8 percent jobless figure is the city’s lowest since December’s 7.1 percent.
Holwell attributes the general decline of unemployment in many Colorado counties to a slight or temporary recovery in a number of key industries.
“We’re starting to see some loosening in the real estate industry and the construction industry,” he said. “Banks are lending a little bit again. For a while, they froze a lot of loans and work had to stop.”
The employment analyst is not ready to call the trend a full-on recovery because he says it remains unclear how the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies will play in Colorado.
“That may have an adverse effect that we won’t really see until June’s numbers come out. I’m kind of surprised unemployment didn’t come up a little bit more from closing dealerships,” he said.
Sparsely populated Dolores County in the southwestern part of the state had the highest jobless rate in Colorado at 14.9 percent, though even that county’s rate is falling.
The sectors that saw the most increases in jobs were in government, education and health sciences, according to the federal bureau.
The most job losses occurred in the professional and business-services sectors, which have seen a drop of 12,700 jobs over the last year. The trade, transportation, and utilities sector lost 11,500 jobs during the same period.
Still, Holwell thinks Colorado is reasonably well positioned to withstand whatever remains of the economic downturn.
“Colorado is in very good shape, relatively speaking to the rest of the United States, particularly where you’re looking at states with double-digit unemployment like Michigan. Colorado’s got a really robust, diverse economy,” he said.
Michigan, at 13.9 percent, has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
The county’s jobless figure had generally risen steadily since November 2007 when it stood at 4 percent. The unemployment rate had seen only occasional and slight drops during the last 20 months.
Arapahoe County’s jobless figures are among the lowest in the generally declining unemployment rates across metro Denver.
Denver and Adams counties both showed two months of decline in May — and stand at 8 percent and 8.5 percent respectively — but both still had rates higher than Arapahoe’s. Only neighboring Douglas County, at 6.2 percent, had jobless figures substantially lower than Arapahoe County.
According to Patrick Holwell, a data analyst with Arapahoe/Douglas Works, a public-private workforce center, the data are evidence of the affluence and educational levels of the south metro area.
“Look at the skill set of the workforce in Douglas County — managers, technical people, accountants, lawyers and so on,” he said. “Arapahoe County may be a little less so, but the Denver Tech Center is kind of the finance industry’s hub for the Denver metro area.”
For the 10-county metro region, unemployment remained unchanged at 7.5 percent in May. The statewide figure rose only slightly from 7.3 percent in April to 7.4 percent. Denver’s 8 percent jobless figure is the city’s lowest since December’s 7.1 percent.
Holwell attributes the general decline of unemployment in many Colorado counties to a slight or temporary recovery in a number of key industries.
“We’re starting to see some loosening in the real estate industry and the construction industry,” he said. “Banks are lending a little bit again. For a while, they froze a lot of loans and work had to stop.”
The employment analyst is not ready to call the trend a full-on recovery because he says it remains unclear how the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies will play in Colorado.
“That may have an adverse effect that we won’t really see until June’s numbers come out. I’m kind of surprised unemployment didn’t come up a little bit more from closing dealerships,” he said.
Sparsely populated Dolores County in the southwestern part of the state had the highest jobless rate in Colorado at 14.9 percent, though even that county’s rate is falling.
The sectors that saw the most increases in jobs were in government, education and health sciences, according to the federal bureau.
The most job losses occurred in the professional and business-services sectors, which have seen a drop of 12,700 jobs over the last year. The trade, transportation, and utilities sector lost 11,500 jobs during the same period.
Still, Holwell thinks Colorado is reasonably well positioned to withstand whatever remains of the economic downturn.
“Colorado is in very good shape, relatively speaking to the rest of the United States, particularly where you’re looking at states with double-digit unemployment like Michigan. Colorado’s got a really robust, diverse economy,” he said.
Michigan, at 13.9 percent, has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
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