Colorado added fewer jobs than initially reported in 2024 as problems with the state’s employment data made it hard to get a good read on the economy.
Colorado added 33,200 jobs last year, about half of previous estimates, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Colorado’s unemployment rate ended the year at 4.3 percent, up from a 3.9 percent estimate. That means Colorado’s job growth is lagging the rest of the country. The U.S. unemployment rate was 4 percent in 2024.
The revisions come after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal agency that collects and publishes economic data, last year suspended Colorado’s monthly employment reports because the underlying data was deemed unreliable. The problems date back to the rollout of a new unemployment computer system in 2023. Colorado’s labor department had struggled to collect reliable numbers ever since.
According to the BLS, Colorado has addressed the problems with its data.
The updated statistics show that Colorado’s economy has been slowing for a while. The slowdown comes at a tenuous time for the entire U.S. economy as President Donald Trump’s policies of levying tariffs and making deep cuts to federal spending unnerve businesses.
Colorado is falling further behind the U.S. when it comes to jobs this year. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.7 percent in January, compared to a current 4.1 percent for the U.S.
