66% of Coloradans Are Working

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just released their Employment-Population Ratio for each state for 2017. This report measures the number of people aged 16-64 who are actively working for a company or self-employed. It doesn’t include people looking for work, students, military, or people living in prisons or mental health hospitals.

For Colorado our ratio increased from 64.9% in 2016 to 66.2% in 2017, the biggest percentage point gain in the country! The national average is 60% and our 66.2% rate is the 6th highest in the country. North Dakota had the highest rate of employed people at 69.6%. For Colorado this ratio peaked at 71.6% in 1998 and hit a low of 63.5% in 2013.

But, our workforce is aging quickly as back in 2000, only 10% of Colorado’s labor force was 55 or older. Today, this ratio is running close to 20%. Thus, Baby Boomers aren’t leaving the workforce or their homes.