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

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“We think the Colorado economuy will likely parallel or slightlg follow the recovery of thenationalo economy, which we see leveling off in the third quartere and growing in the fourth quarter,” Wobbekind said in a “We think the rate of job losses will slow throughourt the rest of this year, and potentially turn positive by the end of the Wobbekind made his remarks as part of a midyear updatre on his 2009 economic outlook, originally forecast in December 2008. Colorad o likely will lose 55,000 to 65,000 jobs in Wobbekind said in hisupdated forecast.
That’s far more than the 4,300-job loss he expected last “In the first part of this year, we’ve more than lost the jobs created in the previous two he said. “It’s going to take at least the next two years to recove r thoselost jobs.” Hiring in the educational and healtjh care services sector has been slightly positives in 2009, mostly because employerds were still filling a backlogb of needed hires in areas such as Wobbekind said. The naturalk resources and mining sectoris flat, but could potentiallu see some positive job growth if energy exploration in the stats increases, he said.
“There are some jobs beiny created, but pretty much across the board the sectors are taking a veryhard hit,” he Among the most affected sectors has been the professional and businessw services sector, which includexs many high-paying jobs such as lawyers, computer systems designers and scientific researc and development groups. “The single most surprising area and the one that has had the largesft job loss has been in professional and business services,” Wobbekind said.
“It’s been a very important categoryu for jobs during the last several years as the economy has surgedand it’s been one that has been hit surprisingly hard in this downturn, at least by our assessmen t and by many others.” The leisurew and hospitality sector saw very weak retai numbers for the first four months of the especially in mountain resort towns. The rest of the year is expecter tobe weak, but should improve compare with the first four monthss of the year, the statement said. “This is not goinh to be a great year for tourism byany means, but it probablu will get a little better going forward than it was in the beginninb of this year,” he said.
The Leedz Business Confidence Index did show an uptick suggesting improvement in thethird quarter. After plunging to a record low in the firsyt quarterof 2009, the forward-looking LBCI surged 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 stat e economy and sales, passed the neutral mark of 50. overall, the LBCI remains below 50 as leaderws expressed continued concernsabouft profits, hiring and capital expenditures.