The Denver Post headline blares “Colorado adds jobs for the 29th consecutive month,” but buried under that misleading headline is that the unemployment rate for Colorado has increased to 6.2%. Wethinks, if Howard Pankratz had written this article when a Republican was governor the headline would blare, “Colorado’s Unemployment Rate Increases in March.”
Things only get worse for J.W. Hickenlooper when we compare ourselves to our neighbors. In March, the unemployment rate for Utah and Wyoming fell to the absurdly low 4.1% and 4.0% respectively. PeakNation™, don’t look at those numbers too enviously, those could easily be ours if we had a governor who was actually good for Colorado’s economy and not just one who skates by on Colorado’s inherent resources.
Now, there will be those who want to argue “this is just one month; look at how far our unemployment rate has fallen in the past year.” Let us list some states whose unemployment rate has fallen more in the past year: California, New York, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Fantastic, even the rustbelt and over-regulated California are beginning to pass us in job growth. Slick Hick’s next talking point: “40th to 4th to, um, nevermind. Did you hear I used to be a bartending geologist? I think the Indiana Jones movies were based off of me. Oh, that was an archaeologist, well, here, have another beer; I am!”
Yes, Hick, start passing out the beer, because the economic studies that dig a little deeper to forecast where Colorado’s economy will be heading aren’t that bright. We’re all going to need something to take the edge off the next couple of months.