RBC I The Rio Blanco County unemployment rate remained at a steady 3.2 percent in December, unchanged since the November rate and 1.1 percent lower than in December 2013.
The November rate marked the first month in nearly a year that the unemployment rate didn’t drop, being up .2 percent from the low of an even 3 percent in October.
In December 2014, there were 4,161 persons considered eligible for the workforce in Rio Blanco County. Of those, 4,029 were employed and there were 132 unemployed, making for the 3.2 percent.
That compares to 4,209 eligible workers in November 2014, and, of those, 4,075 were working. That also comes to a 3.2 percent jobless rate.
In December 2013, there were 4,396 available workers, and 4,209 of those were employed. There were 187 potential workers who were jobless, arriving at a 4.3 percent unemployment rate.
The state of Colorado’s December unemployment rate also remained steady with figures from November 2014, when the rate raised from 3.9 in October to 4.0 percent. That figure compares to the state’s jobless rate in December 2013, when the rate was 5.9 percent of the available workforce receiving unemployment.
In December, there were 2,803,091 people in the state’s available workforce. Of those, 2,692,014 were employed and 111,077 were jobless for the 4.0 overall state unemployment rate. In November, there were 2,809,023 in the available workforce, and of those there were 2,696,425 with jobs and 112,598 without—also a 4.0 jobless rate.
In December 2013, there were 2,740,061 residents in the state’s available workforce. Of those, 2,577,995 held jobs and there were 162,066 who were unemployed for a jobless rate of 5.9 percent.
December figures show six counties in which the jobless rate was 5.5 percent or higher.
Highest in the state (with the county seats in parentheses) was Costilla County (San Luis) at 7.7 percent, up from 7.3 percent in November. Others were: Huerfano County (Walsenburg) at 6.5 percent; Pueblo County (Pueblo) at 5.7 percent; San Juan County (Silverton) at 5.6 percent; and tied for fifth with 5.5 percent unemployment rates were Otero (LaJunta) and Fremont (Canon City) counties.
For December, there were seven counties with unemployment rates below 2 percent.
Tied for the lowest jobless rate in Colorado were Baca County (Springfied) and Cheyenne County (Cheyenne Wells) with 1.5 percent unemployment rates. Tied for the third-place lowest rate were Yuma (Wray) and Jackson (Walden) counties each with a 1.6 percent rate. Tied for fifth place were Kiowa (Eads) and Washington (Akron) counties at 1.8 percent each. The only other Colorado county with a jobless rate under 2 percent in December was Hinsdale County (Lake City), the seventh lowest at 1.9 percent.
