Colorado’s Unemployment Rate Continues to Decline Under Polis Administration

DENVER — Governor Polis and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment announced today that Colorado’s unemployment rate has declined to 4.8%, marking the first time since March 2020 that the unemployment rate has dropped below 5% and the seventh consecutive month of decline. Colorado continues to out-perform the majority of states with one of the fastest recovery rates in the nation. December marked the fourth straight month with Colorado adding at least 9,000 payroll jobs.

“I'm excited that the lowest unemployment rate since the pandemic began and positive job growth sends a clear message that Colorado continues to be the best place to live, work and grow a business and Coloradans are moving forward. Our administration is on a mission to save people money, grow an even stronger workforce, make historic investments in services to connect workers with good paying jobs so we can all thrive,” said Gov. Polis. 

Colorado’s rate of job recovery continues to accelerate compared to the U.S. through December with the state’s rate of job growth over the past year being 4.4 percent, compared to the U.S. rate of 4.1 percent. 

In efforts to move Colorado forward and restore employment rates to pre-pandemic levels, Colorado has gained back 335,500 of the 375,800 nonfarm payroll jobs lost between February and April of 2020. Colorado’s recovery rate of 89.3% percent, which exceeds the U.S. rate of 84% percent.

The state’s peak unemployment rate during the COVID-19 pandemic has fallen to a rate of 4.8 percent substantially faster when compared to the prior economic downturns.