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<br />r <br />, <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />EMPLOYMENT <br /> <br />Employment in the basin is distributed as follows: wholesale and retail <br />trade - 21.3 percent; agriculture - 19.0 percent; government - 18.6 <br />percent; services - 17.8 percent; and unemployed - 23.3 percent. <br />Mining is relatively insignificant as an employer and in value of pro- <br />duction, but it is nontheless, extremely important in a few specific <br />locations, particularly in Mineral County. <br /> <br />According to U. S. Census figures, 12,867 persons or approximately 34 <br />percent of the Rio Grande Basin population 16 years of age and over were <br />in the civilian labor force in 1970. The percentage of the work force <br />was five percent below the state of Colorado's 30 percent. Some 11,655 <br />persons, or sl ightly less than half of the population 16 years or over, <br />are not in the labor force. Of this total, only three percent are <br />considered able to work, while the remainder are homemakers, persons <br />over age 65, students, disabled or handicapped, and a small percentage <br />are inmates of institutions. <br /> <br />A number of constraints have affected industrial development and employ- <br />ment growth in the area. The distance of the basin from markets and <br />imposition of freight tariffs on all goods entering and leaving the area <br />often deter from its consideration as a favorable location for doing <br />business or undertaking production operations. Other factors limiting <br />growth and job opportunities include replacement of workers by automated <br />equipment in the agricultural industry; a high proportion of unskilled <br />workers in the labor force; limited water resources and other public <br />facilities needed for industrial purposes; and the basin's delicate <br />natural environment which is highly sensitive to industrial operations <br />requiring extensive disposal of waste products. <br /> <br />The basin has a higher rate of unemployment than the state of Colorado. <br />The unemployment rates are much higher for the valley's 46 percent <br />Spanish-surnamed population. Some 9.0 percent of the Spanish-surnamed <br />labor force experienced unemployment according to the 1970 Census <br />records. Spanish-surnamed males experienced a 10.7 percent rate of <br />unemployment compared with the six-county male population as a whole <br />which had 4.9 percent unemployment. (See Tables F-l through F-6). <br /> <br />c .~, <br />..' ... <br /> <br />.. . ,,~ <br />" L.l... <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />F-I <br />