Download Colorado to see continued moderate growth in 2012, forecasts CU... July 5, 2012 Richard Wobbekind

Colorado to see continued moderate growth in 2012, forecasts CU economist
July 5, 2012
Richard Wobbekind
The Colorado economy continues to grow at a modest pace in 2012,
positioning the state among the healthier in growth nationally, according to
economist Richard Wobbekind of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds
School of Business.
CUT 1 “The Colorado economy has been growing at a pretty good pace
through the first part of the year but the recent months have shown a little
bit of slowing in terms of the growth rate. (18) We are anticipating continued
moderate growth through out the rest of the year. (:18) Colorado will wind up
being one of the better growth states in the country but not quite growing as
fast as it was growing in January, February and March, for example, of this
year.” (:28)
Wobbekind, who presents the Colorado Business Economic Outlook forecast
each December, recently met with steering committee members who
represent the state’s major economic sectors for a midyear update.
Midway through the year, Colorado’s job growth rate is up to about 1.6
percent -- a gain of about 35,000 jobs in 2012 if the pace holds steady,
placing the state sixth nationally in job growth rate. The estimate is up from
last December when the forecast totaled about 23,000 jobs for the year.
CUT 2 “One of the things that’s been really positive is that there has been job
growth across a wide array of sectors. So it’s really balanced growth which is
symptomatic of broad-based recovery in the economy. (:13) Not only in the
primary industries but some of the feeder industries have picked up because
the primary industries have picked up.” (:20)
Other notable mentions from the report are:
UnemploymentCUT 3 “Colorado’s unemployment rate actually has risen a little bit and now
were very close, we are about two or three tenths of a percent difference of
the national number. What we’ve seen, and this is not unusual, as more
people reenter the work force that actually raises the unemployment rate if
they don’t find jobs immediately because they are participating but they are
unemployed.” (:22)
ConstructionCUT 4 “So far this has been a very good year, a surprisingly good year. (:05)
And year over year data for the metro areas, in particular, which is a huge
concentration of the construction industry, through May the data is up almost
double year over year in terms of the combined residential, non-residential.”
(:27)
AgricultureCUT 5 “The committee is anticipating another good year. Prices have held up.
A big deal there is exports. Beef exports have been really outstanding. That
has really helped the agricultural area in general.” (:13)
Double Dip RecessionCUT 6 “Our forecast does not have a double dip recession. But when you are
at one-point-nine percent or one-point-eight percent GDP growth on a
quarterly bases it certainly brings up those kinds of questions. (:14) And
although it’s not technically a recession when you’re growing a point, a point
and a half potential. It just feels like things are slow.“ (:22)
National Economy-
CUT 7 “Actually a little bit better growth than the first half of the year. It starts
to pick up and it goes over the two percent range. But it’s still below
potential GDP, which is really the big issue. (:11) People are looking at this
and saying how long can the ball roll slowly? Can it actually start to roll a
little bit faster? Can we actually start to see a pick up? And if that were too
happen you’d see larger pick up in terms of the number of new jobs.” (:26)
To read more about the forecast go to www.colorado.edu/news.
-CU-