Colorado’s unemployment rate has been rising slightly in the past few months, but the state’s top economist  cautions against reading too much into marginal monthly increases.

The latest jobs report from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment on Friday showed the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate inched up from 3.1% in August to 3.2% in September. In July, the state unemployment rate was 2.9%. The state saw a several-month run of 2.8% earlier this year.

A similar trend unfolded last year when unemployment rates ticked up during the fall, the state’s economist Ryan Gedney told reporters on Friday — also emphasizing that the routine annual revisions of 2022 monthly estimates later tamped those increases down.

“I do have my beliefs or hunches that when this is all revised it will show pretty boring, flat, no change over the year unemployment rate,” he said.

The national unemployment rate stayed flat at 3.8% last month. Since April 2022, the national jobless rate has ranged between 3.4% and 3.8%, which is “near historic lows,” Gedney said.

“The rise of Colorado’s rate was due to a decline of total employment coupled with a decrease in the labor force,” he said. “Despite the recent uptick in Colorado’s unemployment rate over the past few months, the state’s rate has remained between a relatively narrow band of 2.6% and 3.2% since April 2022.”

That’s a familiar story to pre-pandemic times, he said. The state’s unemployment rate ranged between 2.5% and 3.2% in the two years preceding the pandemic..

Colorado’s labor force decreased by 2,500 down to 3,252,600. The share of Coloradans participating in the labor force fell slightly from 68.7% in August to 68.6% in September. At a national level, the labor force participation was flat at 62.8% in September.

The number of Coloradans who are employed fell by 6,100 last month to 3,149,100. That represents 66.4% of the state’s population who are 16 and older.

“Despite the recent lack in upward movement in Colorado’s participation rate and employment-participation ratio, both metrics still rank top five nationally as of September,” Gedney said.

A survey of employers found there were 1,500 new nonfarm payroll jobs last month, bringing the number to 2,917,800. The number of jobs in the private sector fell by 600. The government added 2,100 jobs, likely driven by the education field.

There were mixed results in the private industry last month. Professional business services showed significant gains, adding 2,300 jobs in September, while the other services sector showed a significant month-over loss of 2,600 jobs. Gedney said there is a strong chance the other services job loss totals will prove less severe when estimates are revised next month.

The average workweek for Colorado employees on private nonfarm payrolls shrunk over the past year, down from 33.5 hours to 33.4 hours. Average hourly earnings grew from $34.44 to $35.75. 

FILE – In this Wednesday, May 18, 2016, file photo, a woman passes a “We’re Hiring!” sign while entering a clothing store in the Downtown Crossing of Boston. On Thursday, March 16, 2017, the Labor Department reports on job openings and labor turnover for January. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Charles Krupa