In stride with state and national trends, unemployment is down in Montezuma County.
Department of Labor and Employment household surveys indicate that in January, unemployment in the county fell to 5.8 percent, from 7.4 percent in January 2015, after adding about 300 people to the workforce.
Regional counties are seeing a similar decline with the exception of Dolores County, which saw layoffs in carbon dioxide development. Its unemployment rate rose from 2.9 percent in January 2015 to 3 percent this January after its labor force decreased to 1,218, from 1,684.
San Juan County unemployment dropped from 6.3 in January 2015 to 4.6 percent this January, and its workforce grew from 441 to 456. Archuleta County went from 5.7 percent unemployment to 3.5 percent, after adding about 475 jobs. La Plata County had a 3 percent unemployment rate in January 2016, down from 4.4 percent in January 2015. La Plata’s labor force grew from 29,713 in January 2015 to 30,790 this January.
La Plata County, which employs 29,871 as of January 2016, saw the largest workforce expansion within the Region 9 Economic Development District, with growth of about 1,000 in the past year. For the past 15 years, the county has generally maintained a lower unemployment rate than the state by about 0.5 to 1 point.
Both lodgers and sales tax numbers were up in 2015, and local economic leaders attributed the increase to strong job growth. The city’s 2 percent lodgers tax revenue grew from $908,000 in 2014 to $975,000 in 2015, while sales tax went up 5.8 percent to $14.96 million.
Durango Area Tourism Office spokeswoman Anne Klein said tourism, a primary economic driver in Durango, is inherently tied to jobs.
“As we see our numbers going up in lodging and sales tax, when we have strong tourism, it correlates that you need more people in the workforce,” Klein said.
There are 523 job vacancies in the five-county region registered with the Colorado Workforce Center. Many of those are within the nursing and medical field, construction, motel, food and service industries, said southwest regional supervisor Chloe Wiebe.
Oil and gas jobs fell in La Plata County from an average 618 in the third quarter of 2014 to 593 in the third quarter of 2015, a relatively small amount compared with other parts of the state more reliant on the industry. While the same isn’t true for oil-and-gas-dependent Farmington, which topped the nation for rate of unemployment growth last year, La Plata County’s healthy workforce defies the industry’s collapse.
Fort Lewis College Office of Business and Economic Research Director Tino Sonora said that’s in part because oil and gas doesn’t dominate the job market, and industries that support oil and gas, such as pipe and rig manufacturers, are not located in the county.
“What much of our employment is in is tourism, retail and services – medical, educational, government, etc., and these industries have seen growth over the past few years,” Sonora said. “Also, with lower fuel prices, we should see more visits to the region, potentially decreasing seasonal unemployment further.”
Similarly, Colorado chief economist Alexandra Hall said a diverse job market has created a safety net for the oil and gas shortfall in Colorado.
“We’re fortunate we have a diversified economy and other sectors that are driving the growth in Colorado,” said Hall, who expects the declining unemployment trend to continue. “Whereas states like Oklahoma and North Dakota, which are much more dependent on energy to drive the economy, Colorado has professional business, education, transportation, utilities, and, surprisingly, manufacturing, all doing well and driving economic growth.”
Job growth in the state was 3.1 percent, surpassing the nation’s 2.1 percent. However, Hall said the Department of Labor and Statistics cannot provide payroll growth estimates at the local level.
jpace@durangoherald.com
