According to a report issued last week by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, the unemployment rate for Archuleta County dropped to 3.5 percent in August.
However, while the number of unemployed people fell from 243 to 221 over the month, the number of employed people also fell — from 6,210 to 6,142, meaning the overall workforce in Pagosa Country is shrinking.
Nonetheless, the picture is quite a bit better than last year, when the August 2014 unemployment rate in the county was 4.9 percent, there were only 5,743 people with jobs and 296 people who claimed unemployment.
In addition, the local employment situation is still better than most other areas of the state. Huerfano County, for example, had the highest unemployment rate for the month with 7.4 percent. On the other hand, Dolores County had the lowest with 1.8 percent.
The state’s unemployment rate decreased one-tenth of a percentage point in August to 4.2 percent. The number of people actively participating in the labor force decreased 5,900 over the month to 2,807,000 and the number of people reporting themselves as employed decreased 2,300 to 2,688,700. The larger decrease in the labor force than in total employment caused the number of unemployed to decrease 3,700 and the unemployment rate to decrease to 4.2 percent.
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