Colorado’s unemployment rate is on a streak, staying below 3% for 10 consecutive months.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by one-tenth of a percentage point, reaching 2.9%, in February according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. The number of unemployed individuals increased by 2,200 during the same time, reaching 92,700. January’s unemployment rate was 2.8%.

Colorado has remained below a 3% unemployment rate for 10 consecutive months and remains at pre-pandemic levels. This is the longest time frame in which unemployment has stayed below 3% since 2019, according to Ryan Gedney, principal economist for the department. Comparatively, the national unemployment rate grew two-tenths of a percentage point reaching 3.6% from January to February, according to the report.

The labor force in Colorado increased by 10,700 in February to 3,217,000. Those participating in the labor force reached 68.3% in February, which was 68.1% in January. Nationally, the labor force participation rate was 62.5% in Feburary,

Those who are employed in Colorado grew by 8,500 in February to 3,124,400, which is equal to 66.3% of the state’s population over the age of 16. The national employment-to-population ratio in February at 60.2%, which has not changed since last month. The most significant job gains during February were in leisure and hospitality, reaching about 1,500 people.

Employers added 6,200 jobs (nonfarm, payroll) reaching 2,887,700 jobs in Colorado, according to the report. The private sector added 4,400 and the government added 1,800 jobs. Since this time last year, jobs have increased 46,700 — most of which were in the private sector with 38,800 while government added 7,900 jobs. However, the state’s rate of job growth over the past year is 1.6%, compared to the U.S. rate of 2.9%.

The average workweek over the year for all Colorado employees in the private, nonfarm payroll sector decreased from 32.9 to 32.7 hours. In the same time, hourly income went from $33.77 to $35.68, which is about $2.60 more than the national average.

Gedney said Friday during a press conference that there is a higher probability of a recession than there was a year ago, but he personally does not expect one.

“That’s certainly been on the forefront of either forecast or banking chatter or economic chatter,” Gedney said. “The federal reserve increased the reserve rate by 25 basis points yesterday, again, in a response to what is historically high inflation. There’s also what we saw was two banking collapses that seem to have been resolved at this point, but there’s certainly friction within the banking sector, friction within the tech sector.”

The Colorado Employment Situation report for March 2023 will be released on April 21.