Springs lags most Colo. cities in regaining jobs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado ? Colorado Springs and Grand Junction have a ways to go before getting back jobs lost during the Great Recession.

The Gazette reported Saturday (http://tinyurl.com/nxkbkt9 ) that the Colorado Springs area has recovered about two-thirds of the nearly 14,000 jobs it lost during the recession. The newspaper cited a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report as saying the area has 4,800 fewer jobs than in May 2008.

The Grand Junction area has recovered just a quarter of the 7,000 jobs it lost during the recession.

The report says every other metropolitan area in Colorado has recovered what it lost ? including Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley and Pueblo.

Colorado payrolls in June totaled a record 2.37 million, or 4,800 more than in May 2008. Nearly 155,000 jobs were lost over the next two years of recession.

Colorado's unemployment rate in June was 7 percent, compared to 4.5 percent in May 2008. The reason: there are 45,000 more people either employed or looking for work in Colorado.

Fred Crowley, senior economist for the Southern Colorado Economic Forum, said the Colorado Springs area likely will not recover jobs lost until late 2014.

"Given the job losses at the Air Force Academy and layoffs by other employers, I would not expect all of the (local) job losses to be recovered until the fourth quarter of 2014," Crowley said. "The culprit is the mix of jobs. We lost higher-paying jobs that have a greater economic impact, and haven't replaced them."

Colorado's job growth in the past year was 2.7 percent, compared to 1.8 percent for Colorado Springs. State growth was fueled by professional and business services, tourism and construction. Growth in the Colorado Springs area was mostly due to tourism and health care.

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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com

Source: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/2ab88fd8c79e4cf0a94b4a6ee806d1e9/CO--Colorado-Jobs

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