Fast hyperlinks: Colorado vs. U.S. unemployment price | third place for cable staff | John Malone speaks | Denver rents flat
For individuals who intently watch Colorado’s labor market, a slight improve within the state’s unemployment price to three.2% in September appears insignificant.
“As a reminder,” Ryan Gedney, senior labor economist on the state Division of Labor and Employment, stated throughout a information convention Friday, “Colorado’s unemployment price ranged between 2.5 and three.2% within the two years previous the pandemic, so proper now this era is fairly just like what we skilled pre pandemic by way of the unemployment price.”
Colorado’s labor market is seeing tendencies just like different states and the U.S. and continues to have a decrease unemployment price than the nation’s, which remained flat at 3.8% in September. However like Colorado, the U.S. price is close to its historic lows. “These adjustments within the unemployment price will not be important, they’re actually small,” he stated.
In actual fact, he added, the three.2% price in Colorado, up from 3.1% in August and a couple of.8% in June, is just like what occurred final summer season when the state’s unemployment price ticked up over 3%. Nevertheless, when revisions had been made later after evaluating job information to bigger surveys within the spring, all of the charges had been revised again under 3%. He suspects that would occur once more.
He’ll be involved “if after benchmarking, we nonetheless see will increase like a half-a-percentage level or one thing like that,” he stated.
The labor information remains to be a disconnect for some enterprise leaders. A current survey by the enterprise college at College of Colorado discovered that a lot of the executives surveyed had been bearish and anxious with greater rates of interest. Simply Wednesday, the 30-year fastened mortgage price reached 8% for the primary time because the mid-2000s.
“With mortgage and different long-term rates of interest going up particularly over the previous a number of weeks, that’s placing extra downward stress on the economic system, so, whereas it’s fairly outstanding how resilient the labor market has been, I wouldn’t be shocked to see some extra weak point within the subsequent spherical of information releases,” stated Invoice Craighead, government director of UCCS Financial Discussion board in Colorado Springs, who referred to as the September job information “just a little on the weak facet.”
New claims for unemployment advantages in Colorado had been up within the first week of October, and the general September jobs report counted 3,600 extra folks as unemployed, a quantity that reached above 100,000 for the primary time in 18 months. That September quantity, at 103,500, counts Coloradans 16 years and older who say they’re unemployed. Comparably, 3,149,100 Coloradans are employed, which is down 6,100 in a month.
Craighead added that the week-to-week adjustments in unemployment information may be noisy, so it’s finest to concentrate to an extended interval. “I wouldn’t learn an excessive amount of into one week’s information.”
What else occurred in September?
- The federal government sector added 2,100 jobs final month. Gedney credit this to varsities returning for the brand new yr and workers again at work. Authorities, a bunch hit laborious within the pandemic, has added 19,000 jobs in Colorado prior to now yr.
- The {industry} with the biggest lack of jobs for the month was “different companies,” which was down by 2,600 jobs. One of these job consists of restore, upkeep, laundry companies and extra. However Gedney thinks the quantity shall be revised decrease.
- Pueblo, once more, led the state with the very best unemployment price for a metro area, at 4.3%. At 2.9%, Fort Collins was the one space under 3%. The Denver and Grand Junction areas had charges of three.3%, whereas Colorado Springs and Greeley had been at 3.4%.
Colorado ranks third for largest U.S. cable workforce
This week, 1000’s of cable-industry professionals converged in Denver for the annual SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, an occasion of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers.
Regardless of its nationwide profile, the convention was heavy on Colorado — from SCTE’s dad or mum, CableLabs in Louisville, to the cable suppliers who make use of 1000’s of staff within the state, together with Comcast, with 7,000 within the state, and Constitution Communications, with 5,000, based on firm officers.
A report on the financial influence of cable suppliers was additionally launched by one other {industry} affiliation, the NCTA-the Web & Tv Affiliation, with analysis carried out by Oxford Economics, the business enterprise of Oxford College in the UK. In it, the report attributed $96 billion in gross home product to the U.S. cable {industry}, which straight employs 263,000 folks.
The report additionally pulled out information by state, and Colorado ranked third for many cable staff and seventh for its GDP contribution. Apparently, Colorado cable suppliers employed 59,605 folks, as of final yr, which is greater than the variety of cable staff in California, New York and Pennsylvania, residence to Comcast.
“Cable has at all times had an outsized presence in Colorado, as most of the main firms over time [TCI, ATC (predecessor to TWC)] have been headquartered within the state,” an NCTA spokesperson stated in an e-mail. “The present presence is primarily comprised of engineering and know-how teams situated within the Denver space. For instance, just about all of Constitution’s engineering/tech group is situated in Colorado and Comcast has a big engineering/tech presence as effectively. CO can also be a main video distribution hub.”
TCI is Tele-Communications Inc., which turned one of many nation’s largest cable suppliers within the Nineteen Eighties underneath John Malone, who moved to Denver to take the job as TCI’s president. He by no means left. Malone expanded his cable empire by merging, buying or investing in firms like Constitution, Warner Bros. Discovery and worldwide cable supplier Liberty International, the place he’s chairman to Liberty’s CEO Mike Fries.
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Extra with Malone and Fries
At this week’s SCTE occasion, Fries and Malone mentioned the previous, current and way forward for the cable {industry}. Malone, the second wealthiest individual in Colorado based on Forbes, is thought for his monetary acumen. He attended the present just about Tuesday and throughout the opening session, Fries ended with a lightning spherical of questions that appeared price sharing:
Fries: Sure or no — Disney will nonetheless personal ESPN in 5 years?
Malone: No
Fries: You’re a long-term purchaser of considered one of these: Disney or Netflix?
Malone: Netflix
Fries: You’re a long-term purchaser of considered one of these: Apple or Google?
Malone: That’s laborious. Google.
Fries: Sure or No — The federal government wins the antitrust case in opposition to Google?
Malone: There’s a settlement.
Fries: Microsoft or Activision, good or unhealthy?
Malone: Good for Microsoft
Fries: The IPO market comes again in ’24 or ’25?
Malone: ’25
Fries: “Yellowstone” or “Ted Lasso”
Malone: “Ted Lasso”
Fries: Probably the most thrilling decade for cable, is it in its previous or the longer term? That’s a layup, John.
Malone: The long run.
➔ ICYMI: Cable {industry} pushes subsequent era of cable tech, with Colorado main the way in which
Different working bits
➔Denver condo rents are flat. However they’re up barely, based on the Residence Affiliation of Metro Denver’s third-quarter report, which counted 411,079 residences within the Denver metro space on the finish of September. Common rents of $1,888 are up a half of a p.c for the quarter and up 1% from a yr in the past. The median lease in Denver is $1,810. The change within the variety of vacant residences was additionally flat and that’s pointing to a cooling off for lease will increase. About 120,000 extra condo items are underneath development or within the pipeline and that would assist ease rental charges, report researcher Cary Bruteig, with Residence Insights, stated in a information launch. “If emptiness charges proceed to extend, and given the massive development pipeline they in all probability will, then rents are more likely to both stay flat or lower.”
➔ It’s official: Colorado will get Tech Hub designation for quantum know-how. The group behind the proposal to make the state an official U.S. hub for quantum know-how — and entice funding, staff and firms — is blissful to get that out of the way in which. Now the laborious half: Constructing out the quantum ecosystem. >> STORY
➔ What’s do you have to know Proposition HH? Learn this explainer by Solar reporter Jesse Paul in addition to a truth test. >> MORE
Thanks for sticking with me for this week’s report. Bear in mind to take a look at The Solar’s every day protection on-line. As at all times, share your 2 cents on how the economic system is preserving you down or serving to you up at cosun.co/heyww. ~ tamara
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