Phil Castle, The Business Times

The monthly unemployment rate has edged down in Mesa County even as the labor force remains at its highest level in more than a year.

Add strong labor demand, and Curtis Englehart said he’s encouraged by what trends portend for the year ahead. “It’s a really good sign as we continue the road to recovery,” said Englehart, director of the Mesa County Workforce Center in Grand Junction.

The seasonally unadjusted jobless rate slipped a tenth of a point to 4.4 percent between January and February, according to the latest estimates from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. At this time last year, the unemployment rate stood at 7.1 percent.

Labor reports lag at the beginning of the year as the department revises numbers for the year before. The March report is scheduled for release April 15.

For February, Mesa County payrolls increased 458 to 75,237. The number of people counted among those unsuccessfully looking for work edged down 30 to 3,500. The labor force, which includes the employed and unemployed, grew 428 to 78,737.

Englehart said the labor force has topped 78,000 for the first two months of 2022 after never exceeding that level in 2021.

Between February 2021 and February 2022, payrolls swelled 4,266 even the ranks of the unemployed shrank 1,884. The labor force increased 2,382.

While a labor shortage persists, Englehart said there are more applicants in the local labor pool to fill job openings. “I would say that progress is being made.”

Some applicants who were sitting on the sidelines — perhaps staying home with children during the COVID-19 pandemic — have rejoined the work force, he said. Others have recently relocated to Mesa County and are looking for work. “It’s really kind of a mixed bag.”

Labor demand as measured by the number of job orders posted at the Mesa County Workforce Center remains higher than last year, Englehart said — 740 for February and 1,757 for the first two months of 2022. That total constitutes a nearly 24 percent increase over the same span in 2021.

Labor demand remains strongest for jobs in health care, he said. But the warming weather also has bolstered orders for construction and landscaping jobs as well as positions in the hospitality sector.

An event connecting employers and applicants is scheduled for 1 to 5 p.m. April 27 with the Grand Valley Career and Job Fair at Lincoln Park in Grand Junction. The workforce center will join with Colorado Mesa University in hosting the event, Englehart said.

Looking ahead, Englehart said he expects the unemployment rate to gradually decrease even as the labor force grows and labor demand remains strong. “All three seem to be trending in the right direction.”

Seasonally unadjusted jobless rates edged up a tenth of a point in neighboring Western Colorado counties to 3.6 percent in Garfield County, 4 percent in Montrose County, 4.4 percent in Delta County and  4.8 percent in Rio Blanco County.

The statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate slipped two-tenths of a point to 4 percent. That’s the lowest level since the rate stood at 2.8 percent in February 2020 and before the onset of the pandemic in the United States.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 14,100 between January and February. With that increase, Colorado has regained all the jobs lost in March and April 2020 as a result of the pandemic and related restrictions.

Since February 2021, nonfarm payrolls have grown 138,200  —or 5.1 percent — with the biggest gains in the leisure and hospitality; business and professional services; and trade, transportation and utility sectors.

Over the past year, the average workweek for employees on private, nonfarm payrolls shortened four-tenths of an hour to 32.9 hours. Average hourly wages increased $2.92 to $33.79.