By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released April 2025 job creation numbers by state.
The national numbers were released earlier in the month and for the nation as a whole 177,000 new jobs were created in April, and this was considered a “solid” number by those who consider themselves experts. Colorado’s share of that total was 8,400 and those same experts consider that an “exceptionally solid” month for Colorado. Somewhere, champagne corks were likely popped.
Nonetheless, behind every number is a story and that story for Colorado is quite revealing.
Yes, Colorado added 8,400 new jobs in April – but 5,500 (65%) were in bars and restaurants, and 4,500 (54%) in health care and social assistance.
(You read that right – those two sectors added 10,000 jobs, which is 1,600 more than the net gain of 8,400 statewide. That’s because nine of the 20 major industry sectors I track each month actually lost jobs in April.)
There were a lot of new bar and restaurant jobs added in April because April is a good month for people sitting together inside watching sports. These sorts of jobs aren’t usually highly paid and are oftentimes temporary so they don’t add much depth to an economy. Alcoholic beverages, yes. Depth, no.
Jobs added in the health care and social assistance sectors included new jobs associated with walk-in clinics like doctors’ offices (1,500 new jobs), hospitals (1,000 jobs), nursing and residential care facilities (800 jobs), and social assistance service providers (1,400 jobs).
While typically higher paying and more permanent positions, these health industry jobs say a lot about the state. Coloradans today face more health challenges than they did a decade ago, driving demand for expanded care and services. Addiction and mental health issues are fast growing concerns post COVID-19.
Since January 2020, one in every three new jobs created in Colorado has been in the state’s “health care and social assistance” sector. A staggering statistic!
Colorado is a big state. The BLS data give an inkling of where, geographically, some of those new jobs were created. Around 60% ended up being created in one of the state’s metropolitan areas, mostly Denver, although no new jobs were created in Pueblo (sad emoji). On the other hand, this means that 3,300 new jobs were created outside the state’s built-up metropolitan areas.
And for those of you keeping count or feeling the need to protest huge job cuts in the federal workforce, so far this calendar year 800 federal government jobs have gone away in Colorado at the same time as the state government has added 1,800 new employees. Quid pro quo?
Year to date April 2025, the state has seen a cumulative total of just 4,400 new jobs being created while at the same time the number of unemployed Coloradans has grown by 5,915.
Not exactly the “exceptionally solid” month the experts were cheering.
Mike O’Donnell is a small business advocate, nonprofit executive and economic development leader based in Kirk, Colorado. He currently serves as Executive Director of Prairie Rose Development Corp., a mission-driven lender supporting underserved entrepreneurs across the state.
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.