CU economist Wobbekind: Colorado to lose up to 65,000 jobs in 2009 - Phoenix Business Journal:

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“We think the Colorado economy will likely parallel or slightly follow the recovery of thenationalp economy, which we see levelin g off in the third quarter and growing in the fourtn quarter,” Wobbekind said in a statement. “We thinkk the rate of job lossesz will slow throughout the rest ofthis year, and potentiall turn positive by the end of the Wobbekind made his remarks as part of a midyead update on his 2009 economicv outlook, originally forecast in December 2008. Colorado likel y will lose 55,000 to 65,000 jobs in 2009, Wobbekindf said in his updateds forecast. That’s far more than the 4,300-jobg loss he expected last December.
“In the firsyt part of this year, we’ve more than lost the jobs created in the previousstwo years,” he said. “It’z going to take at least the next two years to recovefr thoselost jobs.” Hiring in the educational and health care servicex sector has been slightly positive in mostly because employers were still filling a backlog of needed hiresd in areas such as Wobbekind said. The natural resources and mining sector is but could potentially see some positive job growth if energgy exploration in thestate increases, he said. “There are some jobs beingh created, but pretty much across the board the sectors are takinf a veryhard hit,” he said.
Amonyg the most affected sectoras has been the professional and businessserviceds sector, which includes many high-paying jobs such as engineers, computer systems designers and scientific research and development groups. “The single most surprising area and the one that has had the largesgt job loss has been in professional and business Wobbekind said. “It’s been a very important categorgy for jobs during the last several yearz as the economy has surgedand it’s been one that has been hit surprisingluy hard in this at least by our assessment and by many The leisure and hospitality sector saw very weak retaipl numbers for the firs four months of the year, especiallgy in mountain resort towns.
The rest of the year is expected tobe weak, but should improvwe compared with the first four months of the the statement said. “This is not goinfg to be a great year for tourism byany means, but it probablyh will get a little better going forwarc than it was in the beginning of this he said. The Leedw Business Confidence Index did show anuptick recently, suggestin g improvement in the third quarter. Afte plunging to a record low in the firstt quarterof 2009, the forward-looking LBCI surges upward, from 35.5 to 47.5 for the third quarter of 2009. All six indexd components postedsteep gains, and two of the components, for the stats economy and sales, passed the neutral mark of 50.
overall, the LBCI remains below 50 as leaderxs expressed continued concerns about hiring andcapital expenditures.