Colorado Springs job market among nation's best right now (Denver: school, contractors)

[otowi]

Manpower survey: Colorado Springs job market ranks among nation's best | Colorado Springs Gazette, News

[Josseppie]

All of Colorado is. Even Pueblo's unemployment is at 3.2% in April and I would not be surprised if it went under 2% in May as many places cant find workers. Look at the drama the state hospital is having.

[wilberry]

what is the employment outlook for teachers , adjuncts and substitute teachers ?

[otowi]

Originally Posted by wilberry

what is the employment outlook for teachers , adjuncts and substitute teachers ?

I think the depends on the subject. School funding is an issue due to a complicated state government funding situation involving TABOR and the Gallagher Amendment, etc. So I don't think there is a correspondent increase in teaching and adjunct positions to equate to a boom. In areas of increasing population they are still going to be adding positions here and there, but don't look for a great move to reduce class sizes or anything like that across the board. There is a teacher shortage over all due to things like salaries not keeping up with increases in cost of living, stress/pressure, over-testing, micromanagement, and so on - people are just not going into teaching at a rate to replace those leaving generally speaking. If you want to teach one of the 'easier' subjects that have more people certified in them like Elementary, Social Studies, P.E. (not to diminish the value of a great teacher in those subjects or those subjects in general - it is just that people find those areas easier to certify in), you're going to have a tougher time getting a job. If you certify in math, SPED, science, foreign language, etc., you're going to find the applicant-to-job ratio more in your favor. Substitute teachers with certification have no problem finding as much employment as they want as long as they don't some how put themselves on the do-not-call-for-a-job list by earning a bad reputation in the field.

[Phil P]

From what it looks like in the article, CO Springs has a high job openings to job terminations ratio. I think this means the job market is accelerating, not necessarily that it's already become the best.

I really hope CO Springs steals some (actually a lot) of Denver's thunder in the job market. Hopefully that is what is happening, as it will drop the amount of people who work in Denver but want to live in the Springs.

[Trump_Fan1]

It's odd how there is a lot of empty commercial space in Colo Springs.

[otowi]

Originally Posted by Trump_Fan1

It's odd how there is a lot of empty commercial space in Colo Springs.

It isn't - that is standard fare for cities with room to grow out. Developers push 'build new' instead of filling in emptied-out spaces.

[Educator1982]

Originally Posted by otowi

It isn't - that is standard fare for cities with room to grow out. Developers push 'build new' instead of filling in emptied-out spaces.

I have to agree because some of the old places cost only marginally less than some of the newer areas for people to root their businesses.

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by Trump_Fan1

It's odd how there is a lot of empty commercial space in Colo Springs.

I suspect this is primarily along the Academy Blvd corridor from Airport Rd to Constitution Ave. Rest of the town's commercial property is all pretty full. Come up with a recover plan for the area to bring business back to allow them to make gobs of money, and you'll be rich. This was the commercial center of the city 40 years ago but is all but being overlooked by city officials, and most national economic entities now days.

[Vision67]

https://gazette.com/premium/colorado...00370217a.html

Colorado Springs' job growth best in nearly 20 years

If you can write code or serve a beer, you're easily employed

"Payroll growth in the Colorado Springs area surged to a nearly 19-year high in September as employers added nearly 14,000 jobs from a year earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

The area’s near-record job growth of 4.8 percent was the highest percentage gain in a 12-month period since December 1999 and came as the unemployment rate edged lower to 4 percent from 4.1 percent in August. The payroll and unemployment rate come from two different surveys — payroll numbers are generated from a survey of employers while the unemployment rate is compiled from a survey of households.

Nearly two thirds of the job growth came from two sectors — the professional and business services sector that includes many defense contractors grew by more than 5,000 jobs, while the leisure and hospitality sector that includes restaurants and bars added 3,900 jobs. No sector shed jobs over the past 12 months, but employment in the information sector was flat compared with a year ago."