Recently in Colorado Workforce/Data Mining Category

The Colorado Workforce System recently released a report, Colorado Workforce Data Mining Project, that provides a three-page summary of the industries, occupations, and economic factors that drive each of the state's 64 counties. The report, authored by the BRD and peers from UCCS and CSU, highlights the distinctive competencies of the various regions within the state. The project was developed with the hope that partnerships will be created between these regions to more efficiently utilize limited resources and move the state out of the recession.

The following information from the report illustrates how stark some of the differences are between the Colorado counties:

• The Government; Professional Technical Services (PTS), Manufacturing, and Information sectors account for 47.5% of Boulder County's workforce, illustrating why it is the focal point of the state's high tech cluster. More specifically, a good portion of the employment can be attributed to the University of Colorado, the federal labs, and the advanced technology cluster. Boulder County has about 170,000 employees with average hourly earnings of $24.21.

• Approximately 1,000 people live in Mineral County. About 95% of the property is public lands and Creede is the only town in the county. On average the county's 500 workers earn $13.21 per hour. Almost 85% of the workers are employed in the following sectors: Accommodations and Food Services (AFS); Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (AER); Government; and Retail Trade.

• Slightly more than 84% of Gilpin County's workforce is employed in one of two sectors: AER and AFS. On average the county's 5,000 workers earn $13.99 per hour. Gilpin County employment is dominated by the gaming and hospitality industry in Black Hawk and Central City. Recent changes to the maximum betting limits are likely to have a significant impact on the growth of this county.

• Otero County (Southeast) is home to about 6,600 employees whose average hourly earnings are about $13.80. Almost half of the county's workers are either in the government or healthcare sector. Otero County is most frequently recognized by most Coloradans for its Rocky Ford cantaloupes.

• About 16,000 workers reside in Routt County. About 1/3 of the workers are employed in tourism or retail positions, while more than 21% are working in construction or real estate. An additional 12% are employed by the government. In addition, the county has a high concentration of mining workers, although this segment accounts for about 3% of the county workforce. Routt County workers make on average $17.97 per hour.

It is clear that the economic strengths of Colorado's counties are as diverse as its weather. From a long-term perspective, it is essential for government leaders, educators, economic developers and the private sector to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing the various regions within the state if Colorado to ensure the efficient development of our workforce and our state.

This past summer the Colorado Workforce System released a report, Colorado Workforce Data Mining Project, which summarizes the industries, occupations, and economic factors that drive each of the state's 64 counties. The report, prepared by the BRD and peers at UCCS and CSU, provides a snapshot of similarities, differences, and challenges, as well as distinct competencies, between counties and regions of the state.

From an industry standpoint (based on two-digit NAICS codes), slightly more than half of the Colorado workers are employed in the following sectors:

·         Government

·         Retail Trade

·         Accommodations and Food Services (AFS)

·         Healthcare

·         Professional and Technical Services (PTS)

The largest sector, Government, employs about 18% of total workers, followed by retail with approximately 11%. Roughly half of the government workers hold positions in K-12 or higher education.

The retail trade sector is important to government organizations throughout the state because retail sales taxes are a significant source of revenue for the state and local coffers.

From an occupational perspective (based on two-digit SOC codes), slightly more than half of the state's workers are employed in the following occupations:

• Office Administrative Support
• Sales
• Food Services
• Construction and Extraction
• Transportation
• Education

The Office Administrative Support occupations cross a broad range of industries, whereas sales and food services job are closely tied to the state's retail and hospitality industries. Construction and Extraction jobs have been driven by the overall growth of the state, as well as the most recent energy boom.

Another way to evaluate the importance of an industry or occupation is to compare its concentration using location quotients. At the two-digit NAICS level, 6 of 19 sectors can be considered sources of primary jobs (i.e., they have a location quotient greater than 1.2). From a total employment perspective, they rank as follows:

·         PTS

·         Construction

·         Information

·         Real Estate

·         Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (AER)

·         Mining

The 6 sectors account for almost 23% of total employment. These sectors are significant to the state for different reasons:

·         Together, the PTS, Information, and Manufacturing (which has a location quotient less than 1) sectors form the Advanced Technology cluster. Approximately 17% of total state employment can be attributed to these three sectors.

·         The combination of the AER sector and AFS (which has a location quotient of 1.16) is the foundation of Colorado's tourism industry.

·         The high concentration of the Construction and Real Estate sectors reflects the fact that the state population and workforce have expanded faster than most other parts of the country in recent years.

It is clear that different industries and occupations are critical to the state economy in unique ways. As the state moves out of the recession, it is essential that strong growth occur in industries and occupations that are primary in nature. In other words, these industries and occupations (or combinations of these industries and occupations) should have higher than average levels of compensation or location quotients above 1.2.