While much attention has been paid to the headline unemployment rates in Colorado and the nation as a whole, just below the surface lingers a more damaging picture of Colorado’s stalled economy under the Obama administration. Not only do we have fewer people working in this state than we did four years ago, but Colorado has witnessed a sharp decline in high paying, “good jobs” in critical industries such as IT, financial services, and manufacturing.
Viewed alongside the fact that the state’s population growth rate over the past decade has been approximately 1.6% per annum, an even bleaker picture regarding jobs and the gainfully employed in Colorado comes into focus: Colorado’s labor force has contracted by more than 24,000 people during Obama’s term, while the state’s population grew by nearly 240,000. This fact makes the real employment situation in Colorado significantly worse than what is recorded by official numbers, as The Colorado Observer pointed out.
Who is hurt the most by the Obama economy in Colorado?