Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Job Growth

Polis Pushes Back As Employers Cite Rising Challenges In Colorado Economy
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Polis Pushes Back As Employers Cite Rising Challenges In Colorado Economy

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics How does Colorado get back to the climate in the early 2000s, when there was collaboration between state government, companies and colleges and universities? That was the question posed to Gov. Jared Polis and a panel convened Tuesday by the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce as part of its annual state of the state luncheon that follows the end of the legislative session. Mowa Haile, the CEO of Sky Blue Builders who chairs the chamber board, noted that, in the last year, the state has gained more than $2 billion in capital investment, along with 1,000 jobs. Colorado is still an amazing state, he said. “But we see cracks,” Haile said. Several issues today make Colorado less competitive for businesses, he said,...
Douglas County Launches Red Tape Reduction Task Force To Speed Commercial Development
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Douglas County Launches Red Tape Reduction Task Force To Speed Commercial Development

By Nicholas Fogleman | The Denver Gazette Douglas County kicked off its first Red Tape Reduction Task Force Thursday aimed at speeding up commercial and industrial development timelines in the county, a move leaders said is necessary to keep the county competitive with other regions nationwide. The task force will review the county’s development and regulatory processes to identify permitting “hurdles” in an effort to attract and retain businesses. Douglas County Commissioner Kevin Van Winkle said delays can stem from a range of issues, including complex regulatory requirements or delays with referral agencies. “Sometimes it might be securing power or water for a project and what that looks like. Other times, it could just be administrative hurdles that are unne...
Economists Predict Slow Recovery for Colorado Workforce After Policy-Driven Setbacks
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Economists Predict Slow Recovery for Colorado Workforce After Policy-Driven Setbacks

By Bernadette Berdychowski | The Denver Gazette Colorado faced weak job growth throughout 2025. More than half of the 11 largest sectors are expected to have recorded job losses by the end of the year, according to the annual economic outlook from the Business Research Division at the University of Colorado Boulder, released Monday. But 2026 is expected to see improvement, as economists forecast only three sectors will see job losses. Preliminary estimates show 2025 had 0.4% growth. Next year, job growth could improve to 0.6%. Colorado has been in a cycle of sluggish growth since 2024 that was exasperated this year by tariffs and federal cuts. The slowdown is largely driven by the professional and businesses sector, the second-largest employer in the stat...
Small Businesses Lead Surprise Drop in U.S. Private Payrolls
The Denver Gazette, Approved, National

Small Businesses Lead Surprise Drop in U.S. Private Payrolls

By Reuters | The Denver Gazette WASHINGTON – U.S. private payrolls unexpectedly declined in November as small businesses shed jobs, but the weakness is probably not a true reflection of the labor market’s health, with recent government data showing layoffs remaining at low levels late last month. Economists also cautioned against reading too much into the ADP employment report published on Wednesday, arguing its monthly estimate has historically diverged from the government’s private payrolls count produced by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. “It is too loosely correlated with the official data to be troubling,” said Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “It would be unwise to lower forecasts for the official data, however, on...
The sky is not falling, my friends
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The sky is not falling, my friends

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice It’s easy to get swept up in the daily drama of social media — the sky-is-falling headlines, the endless doomscrolling, the “we’re doomed” takes from people who haven’t walked outside to notice the mountains still standing tall. But every so often, someone breaks through the noise with a dose of reality. That’s what podcaster Dan Hollaway did last week on X when he responded to a viral claim that “this administration is losing young voters because it’s obsessed with Israel.” His reply? A blistering reality check that could double as a highlight reel of what’s actually working in America right now. Let’s look at a few of those wins — and maybe take a breath. Start with the economy. We’ve added more than 670,000 net jobs since Ja...
USDA move to Fort Collins could add 6,000 jobs and $1B in output, study finds
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

USDA move to Fort Collins could add 6,000 jobs and $1B in output, study finds

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s planned relocation of up to 2,600 employees to Fort Collins could bring more than $1 billion in new business output and over 6,000 new jobs to the area by the end of next year, according to a study by the think tank Common Sense Institute. In July, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the department would be relocating up to 2,600 personnel and operations to five new hubs, including Fort Collins. According to CSI study authors Dr. Caitlin McKennie and Cooper Pollard, the move is expected to “stimulate job creation, bolster local businesses, and enhance collaboration with Colorado State University,” which ranks 23rd in the nation for agricultural sciences. Agriculture plays a “vital role...
State budget director warns Colorado could face 50–50 chance of recession in 2026
CBS Colorado, Approved, State

State budget director warns Colorado could face 50–50 chance of recession in 2026

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Mark Ferrandino, the executive director of the Governor's Office of State Planning and Budgeting, says the state has a 50-50 chance of going into a recession in 2026. Ferrandino says changes in tariffs, immigration policy and federal spending have created uncertainty for businesses and consumers. Colorado's effective tariff rate, he says, has increased from 3% in 2024 to 21%. Greg Sobetski, Colorado's chief economist, told lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) the full impact of higher tariffs has yet to hit.  "A lot of these impacts are being born at this point by firms because they can't pass that kind of price shock onto consumers," Sobetski said during the JBC meeting.  Sobetski says the state's economy is growing, but there are ...
Is the Colorado Economy More of a Train Wreck than it Currently Appears?
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Is the Colorado Economy More of a Train Wreck than it Currently Appears?

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Given all the sad news last week, a September 9 press release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announcing a major downward revision in job numbers for March 2024 to March 2025 was understandably overlooked. The serious implications the announcement had for the national and especially the Colorado economies still, nonetheless, remain today. Revisions to BLS jobs numbers are normal and happen annually because the monthly estimates of how many new jobs are being created or lost in the economy come from surveys of around 121,000 businesses representing about 631,000 individual worksites. Because companies come and go, the BLS combines their survey data with estimates of how many net new jobs are being created at ...
Trump Delivers: Over 2 Million Jobs Gained by U.S.-Born Workers in 2025
National, Approved, I Stand for Freedom

Trump Delivers: Over 2 Million Jobs Gained by U.S.-Born Workers in 2025

By Noah Stanton | I Stand for Freedom Remember how the experts predicted doom and gloom for America’s economy? Those predictions have aged about as well as milk left on the kitchen counter in July. Instead, Americans are seeing something remarkable happening in job numbers across the country. Paychecks are growing and help wanted signs are popping up everywhere you look. What’s behind this amazing turnaround? While the usual talking heads on TV scratch their heads, everyday Americans are noticing a big shift in who’s getting hired these days. The economy isn’t just growing – it’s growing differently than before, and many families are feeling the positive effects firsthand. The secret to this economic transformation? President Trump’s tough border policies are working exactly as pr...
99.8% of job growth under Trump was private sector—Biden’s includes 25% government jobs
Approved, National, The Post Millennial

99.8% of job growth under Trump was private sector—Biden’s includes 25% government jobs

By Thomas Stevenson | Post Millennial Only around 75% of jobs added under Biden's last two years in office were added to the private sector. Under President Donald Trump's first few months in office during his second term, 99.8 percent of all job growth was in the private sector, in comparison to around 75 percent in the last two years of the Biden administration. In a press release, the White House touted the jobs numbers, saying, "Since President Trump took office, 99.8% of job gains have been in the private sector. During the final two years of the Biden Administration, one in four jobs created were in government," or 25 percent of job growth.  The jobs report for the month of May saw 139,000 jobs added to the economy, surpassing expectations from the Dow Jones as some have ...

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