Amici Curiae Brief of Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, Town of Minturn, Grand County, Gunnison County, Pitkin County

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duction rose 0.7% in February, marking the eighth registered a year ago. Energy prices increased 1.9% consecutive monthly increase. Durable goods orders during the month, but rose only 0.4% over a year rose 1.0% in February and nondurable goods orders ago. At its March meeting, the Federal Reserve rose 0.8% after two months of declines. Board did not change interest rates. While off from recent record high levels, the hous- ing sector is still very strong. Existing home sales registered an annualized rate of 6.12 million sales in February, 2.0% higher than January's rate, but down 8.5% from the record high figure set in September. February new home sales jumped 5.8% over the prior month. February's rate was the highest since last August. The most significant recent economic news was the positive sign regarding employment growth. As long as other indicators - particularly business demand for manufactured goods, wage and salary growth, and consumer spending - show resilience, the economy will continue to expand. The possible emergence of inflationary pressures and the positive employment trend suggest that the Fed may be ap- proaching a position to increase rates later in 2004. Consumer prices rose 0.5% in March, with a 1.7% increase over a year ago. The 12-month inflation figure has been steadily declining since the 3.1% rate olorado gc?nor`riy ? ;. Most indicators point to the beginning of a rebound in Colorado's economy. After a dismal showing in 2003, employment has begun to turn the corner. Many municipalities have reported encouraging re- tail sales growth thus far in 2004. Finally, the cor- rection in the construction industry seems to be le v eling off somewhat. "Jobs finally materialized in March, with an addition of 10, 700 jobs over February and the March unemployment rate dipped to a seasonallkadjusted 4.9%... Employment terialized in March, with an addition of 10,700 jobs over February and the March unemployment rate dipped to a seasonally-adjusted 4.9%. Figure 1 shows the average change in employment by industry during 2003. The information sector lost the greatest percentage of jobs, with an 8.6% loss. Manufacturing and construction continued to lose jobs. Natural resources and mining expanded, primarily as a result of rising oil and gas prices. Education and health expanded as people went back to school to be retrained and health needs re- mained prominent. The fmancial services industry showed the greatest expansion in response to an en- vironment of historically low interest rates. Colorado's employment picture has been grim for three years. Colorado's unemployment rate aver- aged 6.1% in 2003, up from 5.8% in 2002. The utr employment rate was 4.9% in February, down from 5.5% in February. Nonagricultural employment decreased 1.5% in Colorado during 2003 after a 1.9% decrease in 2002 and flat growth in 2001. On a seasonally adjusted basis, Cobrado lost another 16,500 jobs in January and February. Through February, a total of 118,100 jobs had been lost, 5.3% off the cyclical peak in December 2000. We believe, however, that employment is at or very near its cyclical low in Colorado. Jobs finally ma- Job announcements during January through April were refreshingly positive. This edition of the Chronicle reports the announcement of 895 job losses and 2,219 job gains - the majority of which have already occurred or will by the end of the year - for a net of more than 1,300 announced job gains. The refaiUrestaurant sector fared well with an announced net increase of 425 jobs. United Air- lines and Frontier Airlines announced a combinEd immediate job gain of 649. Advanced technology manufacturing and development also fared well, with 250 job announcements for high paying posi tions, most of which are expected to be filled be- Legislative Council • 029 State Capitol Building • Denver, Colorado 80203-1784 •(303) 866-4749 • April 2004 • Page 2 Ics.econorrist@state.co.us • http://www:state.co.us/gov_didieg_dir/Icsfindex.htmi