Business

Colorado unemployment hits 5.2 percent in July

By CATHERINE TSAI, The Associated Press
2008-08-16 00:35:37.0
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DENVER -

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Colorado inched up to 5.2 percent in July, the highest the jobless rate has been since June 2005, state labor officials said Friday.

The rate is essentially unchanged from 5.1 percent in June but up from 3.8 percent in July 2007.

The national unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in July 2008.

Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Executive Director Donald Mares said a scarcity of jobs in construction, trade and other sectors that might hire young people in the summer contributed to the rise.

About 144,100 residents were unsuccessfully looking for work in July, up by nearly 41,000 from a year ago, the labor department said.

Meanwhile, first-time unemployment claims are up 14 percent this year through July from the same period last year.

"It's not nearly the notch up we had in '01, '02, '03, but it's a blip upward to be sure," said Joe Winter, senior economist with the department. There were roughly 30,000 unemployment claims in July, while there was a peak of about 56,000 by mid-2002, Winter said.

Telluride resident Michael Mowery, 39, said he recently filed for unemployment benefits after getting laid off Aug. 4 as a telecommuting software developer. He said he learned of the dismissal the day after returning from a business trip to Hungary where he essentially trained his replacements.  ( What was he thinking?  An expert in the field (and I use that term loosely) and he had to go to Hungary?????  Hello....)

"I saw it coming," Mowery said. "Every team had cuts. Our team hadn't had cuts."

He said he aims to freelance to replace the $82,000 salary he earned that helped him pay his share of the $2,300 rent he splits with his partner.

"Telluride has appetizers that start at $10," he said. "The standard of living in Telluride is just expensive. That's the cost of paradise."

Colorado's jobless rate was still lower than the national rate in July, in part because Colorado has been helped by natural gas exploration on the Western Slope and solid employment in professional and business services, Winter said.

"We are being affected by the same doldrums you see in the national economy, but Colorado is not being beat up quite as much as the nation as a whole," Winter said. "We're slowing down as the rest of the country is slowing down, but not to the same degree."