(The Center Square) – Colorado’s Legislative Council Staff recently presented its March report on the economic and fiscal forecast for the state, showing that job growth from 2023 to 2024 was largely driven by government hiring.
Looking at the year-over-year change from December 2023 to December 2024, the report found that government jobs increased by 16,000. This meant it saw the largest increase of any job sector in the state, with the next closest being education and health services with 12,000 jobs.
In total, 57,000 federal workers are employed in Colorado, accounting for 1.9% of total non-farm employment.
“The federal government workforce includes civilian employees in a variety of federal agency regional offices in the state, as well as active military, security agency employees and postal workers,” the report stated. “Additional state and local government jobs as well as certain private sector jobs are also dependent on federal government activities in the state.”
This all comes as the Trump administration continues to take steps to cut down on the federal bureaucracy, likely leading to less hiring and more layoffs in that sector of the job market in Colorado.
The report also highlighted that as a potential issue.
“A shift in federal government policy toward reducing the federal workforce is expected to impact job growth and unemployment rates in Colorado, although impacts are not yet evident in current data,” it said.
Currently only minimal government layoffs have been reported in the state, as reported by KDVR.
Yet, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has already begun taking steps to address layoffs in the federal workforce, holding a series of town hall meetings.
It also recently launched a resource page specifically for Colorado’s federal workers, reminding them to file for unemployment benefits if they are laid off.
“The State of Colorado is prepared to support Coloradans impacted by federal job cuts,” said Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, in a statement. “Colorado’s strong economy is supported by a dedicated state workforce, and I encourage impacted federal workers to join us in building a Colorado For All.”
Democratic members of the Joint Budget Committee expressed concerns with the report’s findings, also highlighting issues like federal tariffs and uncertainty “surrounding consequential economic decisions made by the Trump administration.”
“[The] forecast is a reminder that looming trade wars, federal cuts to Medicaid, and sweeping federal layoffs, will significantly harm Colorado’s economy, drive up prices and worsen our budget crisis,” said state Rep. Emily Sirota, D-Denver.
Republicans have supported the layoffs, arguing they are an end to a decades-long bloat of the federal workforce. U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, is one of those.
“I was not hearing these outcries from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle when our Keystone XL pipeliners were laid off, [or] when my district was regulated into poverty,” Boebert said during a recent House Oversight Committee hearing. “We do have an overgrown and bloated government, and DOGE is absolutely exposing that and all of the waste, fraud or theft and abuse that is taking place with our American tax dollars.”
