PROJ00251

• Contract/PO #: C153375
• Contractor Name: Canon City, City of
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 12
• County: Fremont
• Bill Number: SB 81-439
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

TABLE 12
CANON CITY LABOR FORCE
AND UNEMPLOY~ENT TRENDS

Total Labor Total Unemployed Percent Canon Ci ty
Year Force Em 10 ed Persons Unem 10 ed Po ulation
19601 2559 2438 121 4.7 8973
19702 2467 2330 137 5.6 9206
14 Years old and over
2 16 Yea rs old and over
Source: Bureau of the Census, State of Colorado, General Social
and Economic Characteristics for 1960 and 1970.

Table 13 on the following page also p~ints to the overall decline in the number
of workers, but identifies as well th~ sectors of the local economy in which
there were changes in employment. Durin9 the period of 1960-1970, there was
a si9nificant decline in employment in the transportation, communications, and
wholesale-retail trade sectors. To some degree counterbalancing these declines,
the manufacturing, construction, and professional and related services sectors
recorded a marked increase in employm~nt. The deline in wholesale-retail trade
is not surprising in view of the fairly high rate of local unemployment which
would reduce the expendable income of local residents, thereby curtailing local
purchasing power. What is significant, however, is the apparent shift of
the Canon City economy toward the manufacturing and professional service-
oriented sectors.

In 1960 the largest single private sector employer in the local economy was
the wholesale-retail trade group, which employed 585 people or roughly 24 per-
cent of the total labor force. By 1970, the professional service sector had
expanded to about the level of the wholesale and retail trade sector as reported
in that year and the manufacturing of durable goods had expanded the number of
employees from 118 in 1960 to 164 in 1970, an increase of about 39 percent. Thus,
in 1970, wholesale-retail trade and professional services accounted for about
45 percent of the labor force while manufacturing accounted for about 9 percent.

Specific employment data for the Canon City area is more difficult to come by
after the 1970 Census. However, a general sense of changes taking place in the
Canon Cityal'ea can be obtained from labor force estimates collected and compiled
for Fremont County.

58

l

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

..~