The Colorado unemployment rate has fallen to a level the state hasn't seen since July 2001 amid a jump in health care, mining, legal and engineering jobs.

But "a slowing national economy and softening housing market will likely keep job growth modest in the months ahead," said Donald Mares, director of the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment.

The state has experienced three straight years of steady economic expansion, distancing itself from steep job losses in 2002 and 2003 and a meltdown in the technology and telecom industries.

Colorado's jobless rate sank to 3.8 percent in February from 4.1 percent in January, according to a report released Friday. Rio Blanco County, thanks to mining and gas activity, enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate in the state - 2.1 percent.

Job growth, an important indicator of the health of the economy, was 2 percent in Colorado over the past 12 months. The state has added 45,200 positions since February of last year.

While still healthy relative to most of the nation, job creation in Colorado in the first two months of the year has cooled slightly from last year's pace. The state has trailed Western neighbors Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada.

Many economists expect the Colorado economy to downshift this year but to keep advancing at a moderate clip. U.S. Bank's Tucker Hart Adams. at the same time, has worried about a recession in 2007, pointing to debt-burdened consumers. But she said in a recent update to her prognosis that the "possibility of it being delayed until 2008 has risen over the past six months."

More than a quarter of the jobs created in Colorado over the past year have been in professional and business services, a broad category that includes lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers, consultants, computer systems designers and temps.

Natural resources and mining also racked up a sharp increase in work, though the industry is small relative to other employment areas.

The gains don't stretch across the board.

Information - which includes telecom - along with manufacturing and construction all experienced job losses in the past year, according to the report. Employment in the information industry is down roughly a third from its early 2001 peak.

New estimates put Colorado's 2006 unemployment rate at 4.3 percent, down from 5.1 percent in the previous year. Meanwhile, the state's job growth last year was 2.4 percent, a bigger rise than initially projected, according to the revised figures.

"Consistent job gains have soaked up more Colorado workers" who previously lacked a paycheck, Vectra Bank Colorado economist Jeff Thredgold wrote in a recent report.

Tighter labor markets, he added, are putting pressure on businesses, making it harder to find the workers.

Metro-area unemployment

• Adams   4.9 percent

• Arapahoe   3.9 percent

• Broomfield   4.0 percent

• Denver   4.7 percent

• Douglas   3.3 percent

• Jefferson   3.9 percent

Boulder County unavailable

patonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2544

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