Updated labor stats reflect a downward adjustment to Metro Denver’s job data

The annual benchmark revision for the Current Employment Statistics series resulted in a significant downward adjustment to Metro Denver job data. The region’s 2009 annual percentage job loss widened from 3.8 percent in the preliminary data to 4.4 percent in the benchmarked series. Total jobs lost in Metro Denver through all 12 months of 2009 rose from 54,500 jobs in the preliminary data to 62,700 jobs in the benchmarked series. Put another way, Metro Denver job losses in 2009 exceeded the combined losses from 2002 and 2003, which were the years that marked the prior recession.

The most significant revisions occurred in natural resources and construction and manufacturing, where 2009 job losses were 2,300 jobs and 3,100 jobs larger than previously estimated, respectively. In percentage terms, the 2009 job loss in natural resources and construction widened from 14.3 percent in the preliminary data to 16.6 percent in the benchmarked series, and losses in manufacturing grew from 6.7 percent to 10.3 percent in the benchmarked series. Overall, 2009 employment in nine of Metro Denver’s 11 industry supersectors was revised down during the benchmarking process.

Benchmarked data suggest the state’s total 2009 job loss reached 106,300, or nearly 17,000 more jobs than preliminary data suggested. With that shift, the state’s 2009 percentage job loss widened from 3.8 percent in the preliminary series to 4.5 percent in the benchmark series. Economists with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment say the 2009 benchmark revision was more than twice the size of any previous revision since 2004, and the benchmark revision reported at the national level was equally severe. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation’s total 2009 employment was roughly one million jobs lower than preliminary data suggested.

The Monthly Economic Summary provides a snapshot of metro area economic activity, as well as its relationship to national and regional economic trends.