RBC I A positive trend that started early this year is continuing as the June unemployment rates in Rio Blanco and Colorado have reported at least the fifth consecutive month where the number of jobless has decreased, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment is reporting.
In Rio Blanco County, the unemployment rate for June was 4.2 percent, the fifth straight month in which the rate fell by at least .1 percent. The unemployment rate for May was 4.2 percent and the county unemployment rate in June 2013 was at a hefty 6.0 percent of the non-seasonally adjusted labor force.
In June, Rio Blanco County had 4,308 employees in the labor force. There were 4,219 employed and the unemployed workers numbered 179.
In May, the county reported 4,216 in the labor force, 4,033 workers with jobs and the number of unemployed was 183 for an unemployment rate.
In June of 2013, there were 4,347 workers making up the available labor force with 4,087 of those holding jobs and 260 who were without jobs. The county’s unemployment rate for June of 2013 was 6.0 percent.
Statewide, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, the unemployment rate for June was 5.4 percent, compared to 5.5 percent in May, and that compares to 7.3 percent statewide in June 2013.
In June, statewide, there were 2,818,755 in the available workforce with 2,666,939 holding jobs. That left 151,816 residents as jobless for 5.4 percent.
In May, there were 2,780,576 in the state workforce while 2,628,043 held jobs and 152,533 were unemployed for a state jobless rate of 5.5 percent.
In June 2013, there were 2,782,826 in the available in Colorado’s workforce; 2,581,054 were gainfully employed, and 201,772 were jobless for a statewide unemployment rate of 7.3 percent.
For June this year, the worst unemployment rate was in Costilla County (county seat San Luis) with an unemployment of 10.1 percent, the only county in Colorado to top 10 percent. There were also no counties in Colorado where the rate was at 9 percent or higher.
The next three highest rates were in Saguache County (Saguache) with a jobless rate of 8.8 percent, Conejos County (Conejos) with the rate at 8.7 percent and Huerfano County (Walsenburg) with a rate of 8.7 percent.
The lowest unemployment rate in Colorado belonged in June to Hinsdale County (Lake City) at only 2.3 percent, followed by Baca (Springfield) and Chaffee (Salida) counties at 2.5 percent, Yuma (Wray) and Mineral (Creede) counties at 2.8 percent, and the last state county under 3 percent, Jackson County (Walden) at 2.9 percent.
