Denver-area, Colorado employment continues to outpace national rates

DENVER – The Denver metro area continues to show positive employment growth that far outpaces the national average.

Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Wednesday shows the metro area, which includes Denver, Aurora and Lakewood, had an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent in August – up by 0.1 percent from July. It gained 45,600 non-farm workers in the past year, totaling a 3.2 percent increase since August 2015.

The national unemployment average was 5 percent in August and the data shows non-farm employment rose 1.7 percent nationally over the past year.

The biggest year-over-year gains in metro-area employment were seen in the mining, logging and construction sector, which added 11,400 jobs (11.8 percent growth); the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 9,600 jobs (5.9 percent growth); and the professional and manufacturing sectors, which both grew by 3.2 percent over the past year.

Job growth in the trade, information, financial, education and health services statewide outpaced Denver-area growth over the past year.

Statewide, the mining and logging industry saw the biggest job losses after 4,000 jobs went away.

Denver saw growth over the year in every major sector except for information, which lost 200 jobs between August 2015 and August 2016.

The full jobs report for the metro area, Colorado and the U.S. can be found here.