It has been a while since the last Colorado economic update was released. This analysis will focus on the U.S. economy because the Colorado employment data is still on hold. The delay was caused by the government shutdown, but there will be two releases in April.

The U.S. employment data is positive, but it is weak.

The data for Colorado is projected to be weaker. The budgets and forecasts recently published by the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting and the Colorado Legislative Council suggest the Colorado economy will be an underperformer through 2028. The slower growth in the labor market begins with a reduction in the size of the population (in-immigration and the natural rate of increase). Ugh!  For further details, go to https://cber.co/economic-updates/ and click on the March update.

Despite Colorado’s many incredible assets, the economy has not always “hit on all cylinders”. Specifically, this happened during the “Lost Decade”, the ten years between 2001 and 2010. The net change in employment for this decade was 7,900, or an average of 790 workers per year. Hopefully, an encore performance is not on tap for the Centennial State. 

We hope for the best when the Colorado employment data is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Colorado’s Labor Market Information group. Hopefully, April showers bring May flowers and precipitation!