According to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Colorado’s unemployment rose again for the second straight month to 7.1%.  According to the CDLE press release:

“According to the survey of households, the unemployment rate increased one tenth of a percentage point to 7.1 percent. The number of people participating in the labor force decreased 6,500 over the month and the number of people reporting themselves as employed decreased 7,100.”

That 6,500 number is key to truly understanding the impact of Colorado’s struggling economy.  Those are the people who have left the workforce – they no longer report themselves as actively looking for work.  Consider them the disheartened.

Speaking of disheartened, this cannot be welcome news for the folks over at the “Billion Dollar Tax Increase” headquarters (aka Hickenlooper’s public affairs firm).  Initiative 22, which has struggled in the past, but has the backing of powerful special interests in Colorado, has been pushing for a $1 billion tax increase on Colorado’s families.  It would seem with further news of economic turmoil, this simply isn’t the right time to ask Coloradans to cough up more money to satiate the public schools’ bureaucratic beast.