Colorado's Douglas County ekes out job growth

New figures from the U.S. Department of Labor show Douglas County was the only large Colorado county to see employment growth from December 2007 to December 2008.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday that employment fell in eight of the nine Colorado counties with the most workers, but Douglas County had growth of 0.5 percent.

Wages in Douglas County, however, fell 5.9 percent over the year. That was the largest drop among the nine counties.

County economic development director Meme (mee-mee) Dunckel Martin speculated that perhaps the job growth was related to retail and restaurants.

The county is home to companies including Dish Network Corp., CH2M Hill Cos. Ltd. and Western Union Co. It has a year-old pilot program to provide existing businesses with details on potential customers, competitors and industry trends, and the county hopes to launch a Web site in September to attract relocating businesses, Martin said.

"We want businesses that match the skills of our work force. It's very highly skilled, well-educated. We have a lot of professional, technical, financial services folks. Medical is also one of our areas of high interest," she said.

Nationally, wages increased 2.2 percent nationally from December 2007 to December 2008, but El Paso, Larimer and Weld counties all topped that, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The average weekly wage grew 3.9 percent in El Paso County to $834, 3.1 percent in Larimer County and 2.5 percent in Weld County.

Among large counties, where at least 75,000 people are employed, Denver had the highest average weekly wage at $1,111, while Broomfield had the highest of all counties, with $1,118. The lowest average weekly wage was $457 in Baca County.

Almost 79 percent of Coloradans with jobs are in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld counties.

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On the Net:

Bureau of Labor Statistics' county employment and wages report for Colorado: http://www.bls.gov/ro7/qcewco.htm

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