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Colorado Sets Record Low With 2.5% Unemployment In December

Colorado's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dipped to 2.5% in December, the lowest level in at least 44 years.

An unemployment rate of 2.6% in October and November tied the previous record low rate in early 2017. The lowest rate before that, 2.7%, occurred in 2000, The Denver Post reports.

Yuma and Kiowa counties in northeastern Colorado had the nation's lowest seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate of 1.1% in December.

Low unemployment is better than high unemployment but can make it hard for employers to find workers, economist Gary Horvath said.

"We are in uncharted territory," Horvath said. "I'm baffled by how companies are making this work."

Colorado has averaged about 84,000 job openings a month since 2001.

Colorado had about 150,000 opening in September but only 85,000 people unemployed and seeking work, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates.

Colorado had almost five workers for every vacant position in 2009.

Copyright 2020 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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