Boulder County

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COUNTY TRAILS REST OF STATE IN ECONOMIC REBOUND
-Anemic job growth is a major factor, or indicator, in Boulder County’s continued lagging in economic recovery. While much of the nation and some parts of Colorado have rebounded from economic lethargy, Boulder County’s concentration of manufacturing has hurt our recovery due to job losses, according to CU Professor Rich Wobbekind. Couple that with the weakened IT sector, where Boulder County has three times the concentration compared to the state as a whole, and you have a pretty sound explanation of why the Boulder County economy is struggling. At the same time, the professional and business services sectors are performing well and keep the county-wide unemployment rate at around 4.4 percent, below the 5 percent statewide rate posted in November 2004. In a recent presentation, Wobbekind noted that the potential of rising interest rates and heavy consumer debt is offsetting, to some extent, economic expansion and job growth.